DAILY STRUGGLE This legless man recycles plastic bottles in Pasig City on Monday, Oct. 24,
2022. The country remains trapped in a debt cycle where international loan repayments limit the ability of the
government to make investments in its own human and physical capital. Critical public services, such as health
and education, are severely underfunded. Higher food and energy prices, particularly the cost of rice, also hurt the
poor disproportionately. PHOTO BY MIKE DE JUAN