GMA News Online News » Special Reports

In late 2009, GMA News reporters traveled to some of the most impoverished places in the country to produce a series of reports that could be viewed as one version of the "state of the nation," a prism through which candidates could see the nation's poverty.

In the multimedia package above, GMANews.TV's web production team distills the series into a Flash presentation, with audio recordings of the reporters and members of the production teams about how they did it and how they felt. Feel free to share.

A 2006 study of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) shows that 33 out of 100 Filipinos are considered poor. That means 27.6 million Pinoys did not make it beyond the national poverty threshold of 6,274 pesos (around 130 USD) per month, for a family of five.

Most of these struggling Pinoys live in the ten poorest provinces of the country, as published in the same NSCB study.

The ten poorest provinces (in order of poverty incidence) are Tawi-Tawi, Zamboanga del Norte, Maguindanao, Apayao, Surigao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Northern Samar, Masbate, Abra and Misamis Occidental.

This list provided the itinerary for Biyaheng Totoo, where GMA News reporters embarked on a series of journeys that hoped to truthfully document the plight of those struggling to survive in the absence of government support.

Their stories are all contained in the Biyaheng Totoo notebook, where they wrote to the future president of the Philippines, telling him/her of their hopes and wishes. The notebook will eventually be handed over to the future president.

Click on the image above to browse the collection of Biyaheng Totoo videos, which include the podcasts of the following reporters and production crew that worked on each of the ten stories:

Pia Faustino - Producer/director for Tawi-Tawi episode
Bambam Alegre - Researcher for Zamboanga del Norte episode
Michael Fajatin - Reporter for Maguindanao episode
Merilea Llamoso - Producer/director for Apayao episode
Ruth Cabal - Reporter for Surigao del Norte episode
Raffy Tima - Reporter for Lanao del Sur episode
Toni Tiemsin - Researcher for Northern Samar episode
Disney Carreon - Cameraman for Masbate episode
Joseph Morong - Reporter for Abra episode
Jun Veneracion - Reporter for Misamis Occidental episode

Also included are scans of the actual Biyaheng Totoo notebook. - JV/HS, GMANews.TV