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Thursday, October 07, 2004
Government readies food coupons for the hungry
MANILA -- President Arroyo's government said Wednesday it was planning to give out food coupons to those who are going hungry as a temporary relief from the affliction they are in.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said government, during crises, "must serve first and foremost those who are on the edge of survival."
"Relief, however temporary, is called for as we lead on in the more fundamental and larger reforms that would deal with poverty permanently," Bunye said.
This, as a bishop said the food coupons program will not address the problem of hunger in the country.
In the Senate, three senators support the program.
Bunye said government is implementing its anti-poverty formula while spreading safety nets that would "enable the people to cross over from extreme economic difficulty to more stable lives."
Arroyo's government has been trying to cobble up a proper response to a Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey in August, which showed that 15.1 per cent of Filipinos have gone without food once during the past three months.
The hunger rate is the second highest during the Arroyo administration and during the past six years. The survey also showed record-high hunger rates for Metro Manila and Mindanao.
Social Welfare Undersecretary Celia Yangco told a briefing in Malacaņang that every food coupon would be worth at least P1,200 per family per month.
This would mean around P6 billion for some five million poor families nationwide.
Yangco said the amount could even be higher because some families have bigger needs, like those who have babies who need milk.
She said the amount is the estimated one-third of the required nutritional intake of a family of six.
She said the P6 billion would be funded mostly by government's disaster funds amounting to P350 million, of which P87 million is given to the DSWD.
She said the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) also has funds.
Yangco also said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) is also looking at the private and business sectors and non-governmental organizations.
She said the food coupon system would be implemented before the end of the month, but those who are in dire need of food would be served by the DSWD's Crisis Intervention Unit and the local social welfare offices.
Yangco said a family could avail of the coupon depending on their needs, adding that some Mt. Pinatubo victims relied on it for six months to a year because the gestation period of their livelihood projects took time.
She also said food coupons can be redeemed at the National Food Authority and some supermarkets, but they are trying to include the rolling stores and several food outlets.
She said around 800,000 families have been serviced all over the country, specifically in disaster-prone areas and in Central Mindanao which is wracked by armed conflict.
Yangco said the social welfare and anti-poverty agencies are discussing how to intensify the food coupon system, which started during the July 1990 earthquake, in the light of the SWS survey.
She said they are asking the SWS to give details on the provinces they covered.
She said the poorest families are identified through the local government units and social workers, in the same way that they identified the recipients of the Philhealth cards.
She said the Philhealth cardholders who are suffering from hunger would be the first to look forward to food coupons.
She said the hunger situation and the food coupon system are not new but the SWS survey only highlighted the problem.
She said the data-gathering system has to be improved, especially because of the devolution of health and social services to the local government units.
Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iniguez, chairman of the Permanent Commission on Public Affairs of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), believed that distributing food coupons to the poor to arrest the growing hunger stalking many Filipino families nationwide is not the answer to the problem.
He also said the move is nothing but a temporary solution and would have little impact in solving the growing hunger and poverty in the Philippines.
"The state of poverty seems to be that wide and big. And even the immediate measures cannot do anything," Iniguez added.
He added that the decision to give out food coupons as a means to temporarily arrest the growing hunger indicates that there is also a food crisis in the country.
"The fact that they are starting to give this food coupon it means that there is now a crisis where people really get hungry," the prelate said while clarifying that his sentiment is his personal opinion and not the entire view of the Catholic Bishops.
Although he admitted that it might be a step in resolving hunger, it could also show that things are not good enough and that the economy of the country is not improving.
"If there is really such incidence of hunger, it is right to give out (food) coupons but when we look at the greater picture, you will see that it's really a sign that things are not doing well," said Iniguez.
Iniguez added that the in giving out food coupons, it would also be teaching the people to be more dependent and rely on the government than teaching them how to be productive.
Instead of food coupons, Iniguez said the government should find ways or better alternative to address the problem.
"This will cause dole-out mentality. (I think) at least the government, within its resources, should try to provide alternatives to face the crisis," the bishop said, noting that using the remaining money in its coffers to finance serious basic social problems is one better alternative.
"If they will be very serious in facing and stopping these abuses and graft and corruption, we will be saving a lot of money," added Iniguez.
Even Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit admitted that hunger and poverty need to be dealt with in a special manner since these are serious problems.
"Our economy isn't working because of the structural problems. Ito na ang matagal naming pinag-uusapan (We have been talking about this for so long). Sino ba talaga ang yumayaman sa bansang ito? (Who is getting rich here in our country). If the farmers and workers were getting enough to live on, they'll be planning for their children's education," Dayrit said during ceremonial rites for the participants of the Leaders for Health Programs sponsored by the Department of Health, Pfizer and the Ateneo de Manila University.
Dayirt also maintained that the growing population is still the main cause of growing poverty in the country and this would only be addressed if Filipino couples would agree to plan their family's size.
Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Juan Flavier and Sen. Manuelito "Lito" Lapid expressed support to the food coupon program to at least solve the problem of hunger in the country.
But Flavier and Lapid said the food coupon program should be only a short and temporary solution to the problem.
They said the government should, at the same time, think of a long-term solution to address it.
Flavier said government should consider the food coupon plan as a short-term solution because the need cannot be sustained for so long.
"It will cost a lot of money therefore it should be used as a short-term solution lang (only). Also, it should be determined properly those that should be given coupons," Flavier said.
Lapid said the government should not always provide fish for the poor but they should be taught how to fish on their own.
On the other hand, Sen. Rodolfo Biazon said the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) should manage well the distribution of food coupons as this will cause more dissatisfaction to the people.
He warned that if mismanaged, which normally happens even in the distribution of relief goods during disasters, this could result in massive discontent and frustration.
"The government needs to come up with a more imaginative resolution to the country's hunger problem," Biazon said. (JMR/Marie Neri/JPM)
(October 7, 2004 issue)
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