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The primary occupation of the people in the Prelature of Libmanan is agriculture. Rice farming, cultivating other crops like coconut, corn, root crops, and vegetables are ther main source of income. The secondary occupation of the population is engaging in livestock industry, service-related and low skilled work. Similarly, farm owners augment their meager income by working as laborers in another farm or doing unskilled work. Families that border Ragay Gulf in the western part and San Miguel Bay in the eastern are engaged in fishing.
The average household in the Prelature of Libmanan earns an annual income of Php. 30,122 or roughly Php. 2,500 per month. These figures are less than half of the poverty threshold of Php. 5,581.65 per month for a family of six. The average income in the Prelature is a little below the food threshold which is Php. 2,550.10 for a family of six. The annual food expenditure is Php. 18,995 per household, on the average. For education, the average household spends around Php. 2,153 annually. Expenses for clothing, transportation, house repair and other expenses are almost equally ranging from Php. 1,249 to Php. 1,469. At least one out of four school-aged children in the Prelature of Libmanan is out-of-school. The majority of these out-of-school children belong to the youth sector with ages from twelve to eighteen years old and they are likely to be high school and college education eligible. Younger children in the elementary level are less likely to be out-of-school than those belonging to the above-mentioned groups. This survey spells out the different reasons for a child’s poor education in the Prelature. The first reason for a child’s non-attendance in school is applied more to the out-of-school youth. They prefer to work than to study. The second is the most common reason for non-attendance in school is the working status of the child which is associated with the family’s financial difficulty. The third reason has to do with the child’s unfavorable attitude towards formal schooling. Other socio-economic problems in the Prelature were identified in the community. The access to potable water emerges as a common problem in the villages. Another basic problem is poor transportation. Roads in the villages are totally rough and under constructed. The high cost of electric power also causes financial distress to the people. Ecological dangers are posed by illegal logging and illegal fishing. The other major problems which affect the life of the families include the following: poverty and unemployment, deteriorating peace and order, lack of irrigation and drainage, flooding and the environmental sanitation. |
