Antique’s poverty decline highlights gains from livelihood, sustainability initiatives championed by Legarda

Years of sustained policy support and development initiatives championed by Loren Legarda for Antique have coincided with measurable improvements in the province’s poverty indicators.

Senator Loren Legarda hailed Antique’s progress in reducing poverty, describing it as clear evidence that sustainability, local enterprise, and community-based livelihoods can drive effective and lasting recovery. Having previously served as Congresswoman of the Lone District of Antique and continuing to champion the province’s development from the Senate, Legarda has been the driving force behind the policy direction, legislative priorities, and program investments that the province’s long-term development gains reflect as steady and sustained investments in people and local industries. From being among the country’s poorest provinces decades ago, Antique is now emerging as a potential development model for inclusive, livelihood-centered, and resilient growth.

Official data from the Philippine Statistics Authority show that poverty incidence among families in Antique dropped from 18.2 percent in 2021, at the height of pandemic-related economic disruption, to 13.8 percent in 2023, equivalent to roughly 20,800 poor families, signaling substantial progress in restoring incomes and stabilizing communities. This brings the province close to its pre-pandemic level of 12.9 percent in 2018 and places Antique 38th out of 84 provinces in terms of highest poverty incidence, within the national median. Legarda credited the gains to deliberate, ground-up strategies she has long advocated, ones that prioritize local livelihoods, cultural development, and sustainable resource use over externally driven growth models.

Senator Loren Legarda strongly supported the modernization of the University of Antique by establishing Maritime Virtual and Augmented Reality laboratory, DOST TechnoHub, and industrial centers like the UA Bamboo Center and Brick Making facilities.

From 2017 to the present, Antique has continuously benefited from Legarda’s sustained advocacy and direct mobilization of government support, including DOLE’s Kabuhayan, TUPAD and Government Internship Program, CHED scholarships, DSWD’s AICS and Sustainable Livelihood Program, DOST’s Community Empowerment thr ough Science and Technology, DTI’s Shared Service Facilities, BFAR-distributed fiberglass boats and fishing equipment, DOH Medical Assistance, upgrades to Angel Salazar Memorial General Hospital (ASMGH), Culasi District Hospital, and the Justice Calixto O. Zaldivar Memorial Hospital, and establishing Libertad’s first polyclinic in seven decades.

Beyond supporting diverse MSMEs, ranging from food and fish processing to bamboo and pottery production, Senator Legarda has strategically transformed Antiqueños’ traditional crafts into competitive commerce. Through Schools of Living Traditions and the National Arts and Crafts Fair, she has empowered Ati and Iraynon communities, ensuring that heritage industries like patadyong and nito weaving evolve into sustainable, global-scale enterprises that strengthen household incomes.

The Province of Antique has recorded marked improvement in poverty reduction since the height of the pandemic, reflecting steady recovery and the strengthening of locally rooted livelihood strategies that Legarda has consistently supported and advanced. Viewed over a longer-term horizon, reports based on PSA historical poverty tables show an even more significant structural shift. Poverty incidence among families in Antique stood at 51.6 percent in 2006, declined to 44.3 percent in 2009, further to 30.9 percent in 2012, and to 26.0 percent in 2015. From a situation where more than half of families were living below the poverty line in the mid-2000s, the province has steadily reduced poverty levels over the past two decades. This trajectory tracks closely with Legarda’s sustained legislative engagement and direct investment in Antique’s communities.

Earlier national rankings likewise reflected the depth of the challenge. Antique was ranked the 14th poorest province in 1997 and 15th poorest in 2003. The province has moved from being counted among the poorest provinces in the country to ranking within the national median today. This transformation was aided by Legarda’s sustained efforts through legislation, livelihood funding, and an unwavering focus on inclusive growth. While temporary setbacks occurred, including during the pandemic, the broader trend reflected in PSA data points to sustained and measurable progress.

Across Western Visayas, similar recovery patterns have been observed as economic activity resumed and targeted interventions reached vulnerable sectors. However, Antique’s trajectory highlights the role of localized, sustainability-oriented development in cushioning shocks and accelerating recovery. This is an approach Legarda has championed long before it became mainstream development practice.

“The pandemic exposed the vulnerabilities of economies that are overly dependent on external flows,” Legarda said. “In Antique, recovery was anchored on what communities already knew how to do and what the land could sustainably provide.”

Rather than imposing uniform industrial models, the development framework Legarda shaped for Antique built upon bamboo, weaving, cotton, bariw, fisheries, agriculture, and clay-based enterprises. Her direct advocacy secured investments in processing facilities, training, and market linkages that allowed traditional skills to evolve into competitive micro and small enterprises. This approach reflects practical circular economy principles: local resources processed by local labor for local and expanding markets, reducing exposure to external volatility.

“When you develop what a municipality already possesses, value chains form organically,” Legarda noted. “Economic activity reinforces stewardship and grounds livelihood in domestic sources.”

Micro, small, and medium enterprises remain central to this model. Nationally, MSMEs account for more than 99 percent of businesses and generate over 60 percent of employment. In Antique, they anchor household income and community stability. This is a foundation Legarda helped lay through landmark legislation. On May 23, 2008, the Magna Carta for MSMEs was enacted into law, with Legarda serving as one of its co-authors, giving small enterprises across the country, including in Antique, a stronger legal framework for growth and protection.

Continued support through credit access, skills training, product development, and technology upgrading remains critical to sustaining poverty reduction.

While challenges remain, Antique’s post-pandemic recovery underscores how integrating livelihoods with sustainability and domestic resource bases can produce durable gains. As the province narrows the gap toward its pre-pandemic levels, its multi-decade decline in poverty incidence is inseparable from Legarda’s vision and sustained investment in the province, a growth model rooted in local strengths and long-term resilience. (30)