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Wednesday, October 06, 2004
Unemployment, war blamed for rising hunger levels
MANILA -- Unemployment in the cities and "pockets of conflict" in the provinces are to blame for the rising number of Filipinos who are going hungry, President Arroyo said Tuesday.
She said the country cannot shut its eyes to the truth about hunger and poverty, in reaction to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey saying 15.1 percent of families had reported being unable to eat at least once in the past three months.
Arroyo and the business sector were urged Tuesday by former Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad to reduce the gap between the rich and the poor so the Philippines could "grow with equity".
Mahathir, who arrived in Manila Monday for a dinner reception, keynoted the 30th Philippine Business Conference of the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Tuesday.
The August 5 to 22 SWS survey had said 15.1 percent of Filipino families experienced hunger at least once from the period July to September.
It was the second highest hunger rate since the start of similar SWS surveys in 1998.
The highest was 16.1 percent in March 2001.
Arroyo cited unemployment and conflict in some areas as the immediate causes of hunger, "but the overall challenge is structural and strategic, encompassing the entire run of human development issues."
Senate President Pro Tempore Juan Flavier, on the other hand, blamed "rapid population growth rate" for the growing number of Filipinos suffering from hunger.
He criticized the Department of Health (DOH) for its "weak" implementation of the family planning program of the government.
Flavier was a former secretary of the department.
Mahathir, citing Malaysia's experience, said reducing the gap between the rich and the poor entails taxing the rich and exempting the poor, granting indirect and direct subsidies to the poor, ensuring fare wages and protecting the poor from exploitation, and providing social services aimed at lessening the burden of the poor.
Arroyo said the country has all the resources to feed its people but it has to "unlock the channels for food and opportunity to flow."
She said there is also the strategic factor of education.
The SWS survey showed the incidence of hunger rising in all areas in the Philippines, except Visayas, with Mindanao and Metro Manila posting record high levels at 23 percent and 15.7 percent, respectively.
Hunger in Luzon was at 11.3 percent and in Visayas at 13.3 percent.
She said her 10-point agenda addresses all the challenges posed by the survey but the problem is being aggravated by rising prices and fiscal constraints.
According to Arroyo, government's current program is to forge peace in the rural communities and decongest the slum areas in the cities.
"I spend most of my working day on these challenges--building the physical digital and human infrastructure to fight poverty, while nursing precious resources to extend the lifeline to the most needy families," she added.
Mahathir, in another forum, said, "there is obviously more balancing act to do in order to grow with equity, an equity between classes and races."
He cited control of prices of essential goods, educational support to ensure upward mobility for the children of the poor and job creation through labor-intensive industries.
Other actions he mentioned were for government to ensure that wage demands for increases be sustainable and for employers not to exploit workers.
"There should not only be fair wages for the workers but wages should increase in real terms so the workers will enjoy a better life as the economy grows. After all the increasing prosperity of the country is also from their inputs," Mahathir said.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye, meanwhile, claimed Filipinos have more reasons to be optimistic, with the ongoing tax reforms, upbeat stock exchange, stable exchange rate, government streamlining, ongoing industrial peace and the moving forward of the Mindanao peace process.
"Much yet is to be done but the seeds of recovery, reform and change have been planted," he said.
Bunye said the distribution of food coupons is not an offshoot of the SWS survey but it is an ongoing supplementary food program that was proposed to ensure that assistance is given to those who really need it.
Food manufacturers and producers and officials of the agriculture and trade departments held a press conference in Malacaņang Tuesday to assure there is adequate supply of food and that prices would remain stable until the end of the year.
President Arroyo also met with the national association of market vendors in the afternoon.
Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said during the press briefing there is no truth to reports that there would be a disruption in the supply distribution chain for meat products, including chicken, during the holidays.
He said the same goes for processed meat such as hotdogs, longganiza, ham bacon, and hamonada.
Yap said the farm gate prices are still low and affordable so the reason for the high prices is in the retailing and distribution system.
He admitted that government has not yet set a fair price for basic goods.
He said the higher hunger rate could be due to "artificial pricing" in the market and this is what government is trying to address.
He said there is no need to impose price ceilings because it would result in a shortage.
He cited a case where the price of rice in Metro Manila was lowered, which resulted in the traders not wanting to bring their products to Metro Manila to prevent them from losing their profits.
He said government would first use moral suasion in bringing down prices of goods in the markets.
"It is only at this time of the year that it is moving this way. A few weeks ago, the profit was not this bad the pricing was not this bad. Not it is moving that way, so we are acting more aggressively," he said.
Mahathir, in his speech before Philippine businessmen, stressed the need to keep prices of essential goods at an essential level, to prevent jacked up costs that bring in inflation.
"The tendency of the business community is to raise prices at the slightest increase in cost. If fuel prices go up by 10 percent, they would increase prices by 10 percent but fuel cost is likely to be only 10 percent of the cost of their goods and services. Therefore, increase of price should only be 1 percent, that is 10 percent of 10 percent and not 10 percent of 100 percent," Mahathir pointed out.
According to Mahathir, the rich in the community are actually assets because they create jobs and businesses thus expropriating wealth to the poor.
But the poor must be protected from the predating instincts of the rich.
The poor should have less or no taxes and their income should be reasonable through government's supervision of the employers and the rich, he added.
He also said government must oversee the activities of the rich to prevent the exploitation of the poor and of society itself.
But the rich must be helped to legitimately make more money to help the economy grow. (JMR/JPM/Sunnex)
(October 6, 2004 issue)
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