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Monday, November 22, 2004
Women bear brunt of poverty in Mindanao: study
DAVAO CITY -- More Mindanaoan women experience hunger than anybody else in the Philippines, the Mindanao Commission on Women (MCW) reported Saturday.
MCW executive director Irene M. Santiago said women suffer more differently from men even among the poor.
"In most cases, ang nanay (the mother) is usually the last one to eat kasi inuuna ang asawa at mga anak (she usually lets the children and her husband have their fill)," Santiago said.
Santiago discussed a Social Weather Station (SWS) survey showing 23.5 percent of women in Mindanao experienced hunger as compared to 22.9 percent of men.
Santiago lamented that despite the problem, Mindanao gets only a small share for health spending from the National Government.
"You cannot say na pareho lang dapat ang (there should be the same) budget for health ng isang mahirap na probinsiya sa (for a poor province in) Luzon at sa (and) Mindanao because Mindanao has a different situation. There is extreme poverty in Mindanao, aggravated by war and conflict. The national government should infuse budget in conflict areas," Santiago said.
Earlier, Albay Rep. Edcel C. Lagman revealed during an assembly on family planning in this city that only a small portion is allocated for health in the P861.628 billion annual general appropriations act (GAA).
"Only 1.26 percent of the budget was allocated for health while 25.91 percent was allocated for debt service interest. For the year 2005, only 1.8 percent is allocated for health from the P907.589 billion GAA. Allocation for debt service has gone up a whopping 33.24 percent. As the budget for debt service accelerates, the allocation for health decelerates," Lagman said.
"It is in this grim reality that our health officials could have averted and should now prevent from persisting and recurring," Lagman said.
Santiago said the MCW has recommended to the 13th Congress to increase budgets for social services for women and children in Mindanao. (Sun.Star Davao)
(November 22, 2004 issue)
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