Against the backdrop of the global financial crisis and rising food, fuel, and commodity prices, addressing poverty and inequality in the Philippines remains a challenge. The proportion of households living below the official poverty line has declined slowly and unevenly in the past four decades, and poverty reduction has been much slower than in neighboring countries such as the People's Republic of China, Indonesia, Thailand, and Viet Nam. Economic growth has gone through boom and bust cycles, and recent episodes of moderate economic expansion have had limited impact on the poor. Great inequality across income brackets, regions, and sectors, as well as unmanaged population growth, are considered some of the key factors constraining poverty reduction efforts. This publication analyzes the causes of poverty and recommends ways to accelerate poverty reduction and achieve more inclusive growth. it also provides an overview of current government responses, strategies, and achievements in the fight against poverty and identifies and prioritizes future needs and interventions. The analysis is based on current literature and the latest available data, including the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey.

"Recent technological advances have made virtual education an increasingly popular and effective degree program in many colleges and universities across the globe, and this academic book considers the challenges that students, faculty, and information specialists face in successful implementation. Current research is provided on designing e-learning environments to suit different cognition styles, forming online communities through group support systems and creative idea generation, and facilitating instructor-student communication and performance assessment. Attention is given to evaluating multimedia and educational software."

Just over a year ago, the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (BARMM) was formally established as part of a peace agreement to end nearly five decades of conflict between the Philippine government and Moro secessionists. This report discusses the many notable achievements of the BARMM government during its first year while cautioning that these accomplishments are not irreversible, and that the BARMM will need international support—including from the United States—to confront future challenges.

The Philippines is a fascinating example of a "poor country democracy" where issues of economic development and poverty, political participation and stability, as well as ethnicity and migration are crucial. The Routledge Handbook of the Contemporary Philippines provides a comprehensive overview of the current political, economic, social, and cultural issues of the country. The Handbook is divided into the following four sections concentrating on a different aspect of the Philippines: domestic politics; foreign relations; economics and social policy; cultures and movements. In terms of domestic politics, chapters discuss clientelism, bossism, dynasties, pork barrel and corruption as well as institutions - the presidency, congress, the judiciary, the civil service, political parties, and civilian-military relations. The Philippines is confronted with many overseas challenges, with the foreign relations section focused on the country’s relationship with China, Japan, and the USA as well as assessing the impact of the Filipino diaspora community around the world. Regarding economics and social policy, authors examine industrial policy, capital flight, microfinance, technocracy, economic nationalism, poverty, social welfare programs, and livelihoods. The final section on Philippine cultures and movements highlights issues of customs, gender, religion, and nationalism while also examining various social and political forces - the peasantry, the middle class, indigenous peoples, NGOs, the left, trade unionism, the women’s movement, and major insurgencies. Written by leading experts in the field, the Handbook provides students, scholars, and policymakers of Southeast Asia with an interdisciplinary resource on the evolving politics, society, and economics of the Philippines.

The Philippines, reported home of several terrorist groups and the site of innumerable bombings in recent years, presents a rather bright contrast to other countries in Asia. The Philippines includes over 7,100 islands, but most of the land area is shared among the 11 largest islands. The majority of Philippine people are of Malay stock, descendants of Indonesians and Malays who migrated to the islands long before the Christian era. The most significant ethnic minority group is the Chinese, who have played an important role in commerce since the ninth century, when they first came to the islands to trade. As a result of intermarriage, many Filipinos have some Chinese and Spanish ancestry. Americans and Spaniards constitute the next largest alien minorities in the country. About 90 per cent of the people are Christian; most were converted and westernised to varying degrees during nearly 400 years of Spanish and American rule. The major non-Hispanicised groups are the Muslim population, concentrated in the Sulu Archipelago and in central and western Mindanao, and the mountain groups of northern Luzon. Small forest tribes live in the more remote areas of Mindanao. Malay-Polynesian linguistic family. About 40 percent of the population lives in poverty while a wealthy minority holds most political power.