Wednesday, November 14, 2007 Prioritize needs of kids: councilor
DAVAO City Councilor Angela Librado-Trinidad renewed calls to prioritize the needs of the children, saying they have been neglected far too long.
"Now that the latest icon of the country's searing penury and misery is laid to rest, we are once again reminded of the aphorism "because the children can't wait," Trinidad said during her privilege speech Tuesday referring to the case of Mariannet Amper, the 12-year-old girl who committed suicide last November 2.
"Indeed, children victims of neglect could not wait. They have the right to decent homes, to education and to protection. And yet, because of the continuing inequity, social inequality, and oppression of our people, children bear the brunt. In the end, in death, all the state machineries can only do is to implement face-saving measures - measures that aim to dispel widespread uproar and not really to solve the root cause of children's misery," Trinidad said.
Beside the fact that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has taken action, Trinidad said these efforts are hardly enough to cover the breadth and scope of the poverty problem in our country.
The President has earlier ordered the Department of Education (DepEd) to fast track the expansion of the alternative distance-learning program so that children can study and finish schooling without having to go to a formal school while asking the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to release P1 billion to fund hunger mitigation programs.
Arroyo also ordered the National Food Authority (NFA) and 125 Tindahan Natin outlets to sell cheaper rice, a P400 million funding for which is to be taken from the earlier released P1 billion anti-hunger funds.
According to Trinidad, about 69 million Filipinos (80 percent of population) struggle to survive on P96 ($2) or less a day (2003, Family Income and Expenditure Survey) but, on the other hand, the government claims that poverty incidence is only 30 percent (24 million people) using as an unrealistic basis of P33.70/day.
She also cited Ibon reports that the share of the poorest 30 percent of the country's families in 2006 accounted for only 8.6 percent of the total country's total income, while the top 10 percent account for almost 36 percent.
Poverty has actually increased between 2003 and 2006. Comparing the 2006 FIES to average annual living wages (for a family of six) showed that poverty increased from 82 percent in 2003 to around 86% in 2006.
"How can we expect our people to be freed from the pangs of poverty amidst horrendous inequality and unemployment?" she asked.
Trinidad said profits of the top 1,000 corporations in the country have an annual increase of 20 percent. The net worth of the 10 richest Filipinos is pegged at US$12.4 billion (2006) and is the equivalent to the combined annual income of the poorest 9,600,000 families (approximately 49 million Filipinos).
In contrast, about one-third of the labor force or 11.6 million Filipinos are looking for work. They are crowding into non- or low-paying, low-earning, uncertain and irregular work in the cities and in the countryside.
"Because President Arroyo prefers to borrow heavily, budget for social services have also been pared down severely," Trinidad said.
She added that the Arroyo administration has accumulated a foreign debt of US$ 60.5 billion as of June 2006 while its local public debt was P2.17 trillion as of February 2006. It has spent the most debt service in the country's history with $48 B (2001-2005) or 11.8 percent of GDP each year. In contrast, budget for education was cut by 22 percent, health by 25 percent and social welfare by 9 percent.
"Sadly, the single-minded thrust of the Arroyo government is to provide the most profitable opportunities possible for foreign investors, at the expense of any substantial domestic development that would mean more and better quality jobs," she lamented adding that while poor children suffer poverty and oppression of their families, girl children suffer the most," Trinidad lamented.
The Unicef 2007 State of children report said: "Despite overall growth in educational enrolment, more than 115 million children of primary school age do not receive an elementary education."
"With few exceptions, girls are more likely than boys to be missing from classrooms across the reach puberty for many reasons - the demands of household responsibilities, a lack of school sanitation, a paucity of female role models, child marriage or sexual harassment and violence, among others. And so Marianeth could not wait," Trinidad said.
According to Trinidad, there is a real need at present to truly implement the spirit of the laws that seek to protect the children.
"Now is the time to give greater budget to public schools and barangays so that the urban poor can access scholarships and free education and allowances. Now is the time to legislate wage increases across the board, put a stop in labor only contractualization and promote sustained decent employment for our labor force," Trinidad said.
She added that the case of Mariannet has taken on different angles, including the issue of failure of schools to provide adequate support to students like her.
"If you have heard, Mariannet was reportedly absent from her class for more than three days. As we have learned, the teacher had allegedly heard a report of her crying in the morning, but no adequate support has been provided. In the event that the pending truancy ordinance will be calendared for debate anew, I shall not hesitate to cite the case of Mariannet, whose dreams are not at all isolated. And whose reasons for her reported absence is not unique, and advance the proposition to strengthen the support system instead," Trinidad said.
"You could just imagine how listening to and hearing Mariannet we could have saved her," she added.
In time, as one of the alternatives, Trinidad said she request the Local School Board to look into the guidance counseling behavior offices especially in the public schools.
"I shall pass a resolution requesting the city mayor to allocate more funds and to support the public schools, If needed be, shall pass a resolution to request the city mayor to revisit the budget for the Task Force Davao and channel directions the same and directly for our children," Trinidad said.
She added: "At the local level, we can do so much for our people, while at the same time, we call for genuine economic and political reforms - reforms that involve a change in the leadership and in the system at the national level."
Trinidad said the genuine pursuit of the advancement of children's rights should be a collective effort thus appealing to her colleagues for support. (GLP)
