For millions of Filipino families, poverty is something they have to live with every single day. Some have become resigned to such fate but many continue to struggle to get themselves out of such rut. Who manage to escape and who remain in it? In this feature article, the author categorizes the poor into two types--the "chronic" or those who remain in such state for a long time and the "transient" or those who move in and out of the poor threshold. And although her analysis covers only the period immediately before and after the 1997 East Asian financial crisis, her message clearly signals that attacking the issue of poverty must be seen in this light where policies and programs to be put in place by government and other concerned parties may differ for each of these two types.
