Wednesday, March 21, 2007 President blames overspending, urges the poor to spend on basic needs instead of luxuries
PRESIDENT Arroyo yesterday told the poor to spend their income on basic needs instead of luxuries so that their families will have enough to eat.
Arroyo made the statement in reaction to the Feb. 24 to 27 Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey that showed the degree of hunger remains at a record-high 19 percent.
The hunger rate has been at 19 percent since November 2006.
Arroyo said the issue “cannot be totally attributed to poverty and lack of opportunity but also to the spending patterns of the people.”
“I ask our people to spend on the basics before the luxuries so our children will have enough to eat. All aspects must be dealt with so the whole citizenry can be healthy and productive,” she said.
The President said the government takes reports on hunger incidence “with a sense of urgency” and wants to pinpoint specific areas where hunger is worst so that interventions can be made.
The government, she said, is advancing agricultural production programs, broadening and speeding up the food distribution system and balancing out price disparities and fluctuations.
Also, rolling stores have been deployed in poor communities, food prices in the markets checked, and food transport routes from farm to market ensured, while the government’s program to entice more investments and jobs will also lower hunger incidence.
“I shall continue to see to it that nobody is left behind in the social payback of economic growth, and fighting hunger shall be a constant priority in strategic and immediate levels,” she said.
The Feb. 24 to 27 survey of the SWS showed that the number of Filipino households that experienced hunger stayed at 34 million compared with the survey in November 2006.
It showed that hunger went up in Metro Manila (from 17.7 percent in November to 20.7 percent in February), and slightly rose in Luzon (from 17.7 percent to 18.3 percent) and in Mindanao (from 22.3 percent to 22.7 percent).
But it declined in the Visayas, from 19 percent to 15.3 percent.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, for his part, said President Arroyo was merely stating a fact when she cited the spending patterns of the public as a factor in the hunger that they may have experienced.
“The President was citing a reality and that there is a need to educate the people on the proper utilizing of their meager resources,” said Bunye, who is also presidential spokesman, in an ambush interview at the Clark Freeport.
He said people should learn to cut down on “unnecessary expenditures” like alcohol, cigarettes and even text and cell phone loads.
He added that if one fails to send their children to school or buy milk, food or similar basic necessities, it should prompt the person to start saving or “marshalling their resources very carefully.”
Meanwhile, reelectionist Sen. Manuel Villar said there is basis for the SWS findings that the number of Filipinos who go hungry or have experienced hunger continues to increase.
Villar, who is seeking reelection as an adopted candidate of the Genuine Opposition (GO), said he has been going around the country and felt that the people cannot really feel what the government has been bragging about, like its economic gains.
He said as long as the economic gains do not trickle down to the common people, poverty, particularly hunger in the country, will continue to worsen. (Sunnex)
