MANILA, Philippines — Rent seekers or people with vested interests has been blamed as a major factor that have dragged more Filipinos into poverty, a research group said.

Advisory and research group Stratbase Research Institute said in its third quarter issue of its quarterly publication Spark said that poverty rose because the Philippine economy, being under the influence of rent seekers or those with vested interests, has been one of the poorest performers in Asia over the past 50 years.

Spark, cited data from the World Bank showing that the number of poor Filipinos living in poverty increased by 3.4 million between 2003 and 2009. The government's National Statistical Coordination Board confirmed that the magnitude of poor population increased from just 19.8 million in 2003 to 23.14 million in 2009.

Poverty incidence, in terms of percentage of poor people, also increased from 24.9 percent to 26.5 percent during the period, data from the NSCB showed.

A report by former SocioEconomic Planning Secretary Cielito Habito noted that while East Asian economies posted average annual GDP growth rates from 3.6 to 6.0 percent between 1960 and 2008, the Philippines only managed an annual average increase of 1.4 percent during the same period.

With population in the country still increasing at more than 2 percent per year, real per capital incomes have risen only by 20 percent from 1981 to 2009.

Despite this meager economic growth in the Philippines, poverty incidence rose because such growth has not been as effective in reducing poverty as in the rest of Asia, according to Stratbase. It cited a report from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) which found that for every 1 percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP), poverty incidence has gone down by an average of 1.5 percent across the world and 2 percent within Asia.

In contrast, poverty incidence in the Philippines had actually risen since 2003, a time when the economy is thought to have grown very well. "In short, not only is the country's growth record dismal, but its capacity to share the benefits of such growth is deplorable," said Prof. Victor Andres C. Manhit, president of Stratbase.

Stratbase said no less than the National Economic and Development Authority, in its Philippine Development Plan (2011-2016), admitted that growth in the Philippines had not been inclusive so far.

The plan warned that inclusive growth was an ideal that the country has perennially fallen short of and that this failure has led to several negative results including mass misery and marginalization, overseas exodus of skills and talents, political disaffection and alienation, leading finally to threats of the state itself.

To make economic growth more inclusive, Stratbase cited the need to pursue reforms in government that would guarantee civil and political liberties from the influence of those with vested interests, including the grafters, rent seekers, influence peddlers and the hoodlums in robes, business suits and uniforms.

Such corruption is among the hurdles cited by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in doing business in the Philippines. Corruption, an inefficient government bureaucracy and an inadequate supply of infrastructure topped the list of the WEF Global Economic Competitiveness Report 2011-2012 as the most problematic factors for doing business in the country.

Doing business in the Philippines is hampered by the inefficient process and legal and under-the-table fees that businesses have to shell out, according to Stratbase. (BCM)