A human rights group from the Philippines is accusing it's government of giving outdated reports on poverty to the United Nations.The group called the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates says a report about to be given to a UN committee should have been presented three years ago. This concerns Non Governmental Organizations in the country because the report may not reflect declines that have occurred due to the food crisis.The ABS CBN's Lilita Balane reports that what the coalition of NGO's will present to the UN is quite different. The government will send its representatives to Geneva, Switzerland to present a 2006 report, a combination of three reports which the government was unable to submit in 1995, 2000, and 2005.“ [The government] is most likely to say it has...
If you participated in a Stand Up Against Poverty event over this past weekend, pat your self on the back.World records were shattered, with over three times the amount of people participating compared to last year. Stand Up Against Poverty was a collection of hundreds of events around the world, hoping to catch the eye of world leaders. Events were held during the entire span of the weekend, October 17-19. Events ranged from peaceful protests and concerts, to distributing books and collecting signatures for petitions. But who really deserves some congratulations is the Philippines. As the ABS-CBN reports the numbers of people who showed up in that country was truly astounding. Our clip of the article gives us the numbers. One out of every three Filipinos or a total of 35.2 million...
from the Manilla Bulletin Charissa M. LuciThe root of violence in Mindanao is not religion or secessionism, it is the poverty of the people involved in the armed conflict, Ambassador Alistair MacDonald, head of the European Commission delegation in Manila, said the other night.MacDonald, who just came back from Europe, said he was "saddened" by the continuous violence in the troubled southern Philippines that has killed a number of people and displaced thousands of local residents."It was very sad to hear that it (peace process) seemed to be interrupted. I can only hope that may be a temporary interruption and that the dialogue will resume again shortly," he said in an interview shortly before the opening of the Cine Europa 11 at the Shangri-La Plaza Hotel in Mandaluyong City."We don’t...
from the Inquirer Subsidies have done little for poor--businessmanBy Thea AlbertoINQUIRER.netPosted date: September 10, 2008MANILA, Philippines -- Despite dole-outs and subsidies, the government has still failed to help the poor, as shown by a poverty-stricken mother who killed her own children and committed suicide, a former government official said."It is very alarming, and this is not the first we've heard of mothers and fathers harming their own children out of desperation. It tells [us] that we are approaching a situation of poverty where people are falling off the brick," said Corazon "Dinky" Soliman, former social welfare secretary, after the forum on Social Welfare and Poverty Reduction attended by representatives of the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, non-government...
from the Age Police in the Philippines say poverty appears to have driven a jobless woman to kill her three young children by giving them toilet cleaner to drink before she killed herself the same way.Senior Superintendent Raul Sandoval said the children, aged from two to four, died before reaching hospital, while their 32-year-old mother died while being treated.He said the woman, Janeth Ponce, left a suicide note in her one-room shack in northern Laguna province's Magdalena township.She asked relatives to forgive her and care for her seven-year-old son who was sleeping in his grandmother's house at the time of the incident.Police said her husband, a construction worker in Manila, had not sent money for a month.One third of 90 million Filipinos live below the poverty line of $US1...
from ReutersHere is a story on the birth control debate that is going on now in the Philippines. This provides a background on the debate for an international audience.Here is a link to the last story we shared on this subject. - KaleBy Carmel CrimminsArtificial birth control is often taboo in this staunchly Roman Catholic country. Yet with a birth rate that is one of the highest in the world, sustainable population growth is becoming a burning issue, especially as millions of poor people struggle to feed themselves at a time of high food prices.This year's global food crisis, which saw prices of basic commodities such as rice soar beyond the reach of millions of poor people, created shock waves in the Philippines where over 40 percent of the population live on $2 or less a day.Spooked...
from IPS A growing debate in the Philippines is wheather the ban contraceptives contributes to poverty. The debate comes up again as reproductive health policy is being discussed in the Philippine government. - KaleBy Kalinga SeneviratneMANILA -A group of 15 bishops led some 12,000 protestors at a rally here on Jul. 25 against a proposed House of Representatives bill aimed at devising a national reproductive health policy.Pulling the other way opinion pieces in the national press have been critical of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's pro-Catholic church stand on population issues. They urged her to make a bold anti-poverty statement in the State of the Nation Address (SONA) that was delivered on Monday.Arroyo did not oblige. Her critics were disappointed with the SONA delivered live...
from the Manila Times This article shows the results of an ADB report that measures assistance programs in the Philippines. - KaleBy, Darwin G. AmojelarThe Asian Development Bank (ADB) said the Philippines' next assistance program remains "daunting" owing to high poverty levels and weak investments.In its Country Assistance Program Evaluation Report, the Manila-based lender said its assistance program over the past five years, or from 2003 to 2007, has been successful in meeting its more selective objectives, despite the need for improvements."However, the larger context for the next country strategy continues to be daunting. Poverty is high. Progress toward Millennium Development Goals is slow and lagging in key areas, and government expenditures for related social and economic...
from ABS CBN News Government officials are having difficulty getting help to the peolpe who need it in the Philippines. Challenges for a subsudy program are explored in this article. - Kale The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) admitted on Friday that it encountered difficulty identifying poor Filipino families for pro-poor programs of the government."Targeting is difficult, sometimes a mix of rich and poor families can be found in a certain area," said DSWD Secretary Esperanza Cabral.In the government's pro-poor program, "Pantawid Pamilya," qualified beneficiaries will be handed P500 every month within a year, with an additional P300 peso for every child in the family that still goes to school. Only three children in each family can qualify for the additional P300...
from ABS CBN Poverty deprives people of the simplest, most basic things – food, clothing, shelter, safe drinking water, even education. But hundreds of opportunities for change may be lurking behind such misery.Take the case of two inspiring entrepreneurs – Rey Calooy and Cherry Yack Sr. – who both made poverty their driving force to succeed in life.Cherry Yack Sr., 44, worked in a rattan factory in Cebu from 1984 to 1991 until he decided to go to Malaysia in search of greener pastures.There, he worked as a bulldozer operator for seven years. He was earning P20,000 a month and remitted half his salary to his wife back home. The rest was barely adequate for Cherry’s monthly expenses.His earnings failed to give his family in the Philippines a comfortable life. In 1999, he returned...
from the Inquirer Rita FestinPhilippine Daily InquirerTOBOSO, Negros Occidental--"Isn't this the worst road that you have ever traveled on?" Mayor Evelio Valencia told officials of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Japanese embassy when they arrived in far-flung Sitio Vergara in Bug-ang, his town's most neglected barangay (village) because of its inaccessibility.The isolation of the barangay is understandable. No well-meaning vehicle owner would want to subject his vehicle to the kind of roads that Toboso is known for, made worse by the regular afternoon downpours. Its rocky terrain and clay-like soil will either pierce or sink tires easily. Six inches of grass grows in the middle of the road for pedestrians to step on to avoid mud and puddles. It takes half a day for farmers to...
from the Sun StarBy Annabelle L. RicaldeFEWER students have enrolled at Cagayan de Oro City public schools due to the rising prices of rice, fuel and basic commodities, a Department of Education (DepEd) official said Monday.Rodolfo Bayeta Jr., Planning Officer II of the DepEd City Division Office, said parents are finding it hard to find money to enroll their children despite the strict implementation of the "No Collection Policy" on Scout membership, Red Cross membership, anti-TB fund drive, the parents and teachers association (PTA), school publication, and membership in student organizations.Despite public schools not charging tuition to elementary children, enrollments have been slow for this school year compared to last year, said Bayeta."Financial man gyud ang reason. Tungod sa...
from GMA NewsThe Philippines was among the major recipients of government to government food aid deliveries in 2007, a report from World Food Programme (WFP) showed.This, as the organization noted that the soaring prices of food in the global market resulted in declining food aid deliveries all over the world for the past year.In its Annual Food Aid Flows report, WFP - a Rome-based unit of the United Nations - said the Philippines was among the major recipients of total monetized food aid, second only to North Korea which received 29 percent of the total food aid."Increases of programme food aid to Armenia, Georgia, Philippines, and Kyrgyzstan contributed significantly to the increase of the programme food aid in Asia, and Eastern Europe and CIS," the WFP said."(The) Democratic...
from the Muslim News MANILA - The ongoing rice crisis will push many more Filipino families into poverty and prevent the country from achieving the Millennium Development Goal to cut extreme poverty and hunger by 2015, according to NGOs."We are definitely not going to meet MDG1 [the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger]," says Joel Saracho, national coordinator of the Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP-Philippines). "There is going be a further delay in achieving it by 2015."Saracho predicted that the rice crisis would continue for some time, putting more pressure on Philippine food security and self-sufficiency and hitting the poor hardest.Average prices of rice have risen P10 to P15/kg (23 to 34 cents) since the rice shortage hit three months ago. What used to cost P25 to...
from the InquirerBy Michelle RemoPhilippine Daily InquirerMANILA, Philippines—The government’s agenda to reduce poverty incidence to as low as 17 percent of Filipino families by 2010 may likely be derailed by the adverse effects of rising oil and food prices on households.The National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) said the unabated rise in oil prices, which pushes the cost of other commodities, might make it difficult for some poor families to get out of poverty.The latest report on poverty incidence said 26.9 percent of Filipino families in 2006 fell below the poverty line, as they failed to meet the minimum income required to meet their basic daily needs. The poverty level in 2006 was worse than in 2003, when the government documented 24.4 percent of Filipino families...
from The Manila TimesBy Katrice R. Jalbuena, ReporterAustralia has hiked its official assistance funds to the Philippines to P4.4 billion for the 2008 to 2009 fiscal year, the top Australian envoy to Manila said Friday.Canberra’s new aid package for the Philippines, an increase of nearly 9 percent over the previous year, has helped Australia become the country’s number two aid donor next to Japan, Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Rod Smith said.The Australian government also granted P444.6 million for two programs that aim to improve the domestic profitability and export competitiveness of selected vegetables and fruits planted in the southern part of the country.“This is part of a long-standing collaboration of Filipino and Australian researchers in the development and...
from ABS CBN News By ISAGANI DE CASTRO JR.Rising oil prices will keep world rice prices high in the next two years, and analysts expect only slight reduction in local rice prices as imports boost the country’s reserves.Agriculture experts told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak that high crude oil prices, which has reached $135 per barrel, means higher production costs for farmers."The culprit here is fuel, petroleum. When you start to prepare the land, you use the tractor, you use fuel. When you start to plant, the fertilizer you use, the pesticides are petroleum-based. When you harvest, the combine, all the machinery use fuel. When you transport it, you use fuel. When you mill the rice, you use fuel. And now, it’s $135 per barrel," Jesus Tanchanco, former National Food Authority...
from ABS CBN NewsMore Filipinos said they are getting poorer in terms of food as the overall self-poverty rating went up by six percent since the last quarter of 2007, results from the latest Social Weather Stations survey said Monday."Two out of five (40%), or about 7.1 million Filipino families consider themselves 'mahirap' or poor in terms of food, according to the First Quarter 2008 Social Weather Survey, fielded over March 28-31, 2008," the SWS survey analysis said.The analysis compared results taken from similar surveys in October-December 2007 (all-time low of 34%) and June 2006 (37%). It also listed the 43-percent self-poverty rating recorded in September last year.SWS said the March survey is the latest in the series that began in 1988 when the research firm began asking...
from the InquirerBy Desiree CaluzaPhilippine Daily InquirerPosted date: May 13, 2008BAGUIO CITY, Philippines -- A former head of the National Anti-Poverty Commission said corruption in the Department of Agriculture is one of the reasons why the country is experiencing a food crisis.Teresita Quintos-Deles, former lead convenor of NAPC, said unearthing more cases of fund misuse or misallocation in the DA would establish if public funds indeed went to agricultural programs and projects geared toward food security.She cited the diversion of funds intended as fertilizer assistance to farmers that implicated former Agriculture Undersecretary Jocelyn “Jocjoc” Bolante, who is now in the United States.The funds were allegedly used to support the presidential campaign of President...
from Inquirer By Doris DumlaoPhilippine Daily InquirerMANILA, Philippines -- For every 10 percent increase in food prices, about 2.3 million more Filipinos fall into poverty, a new study by an Asian Development Bank economist suggests.The conclusion of a new research paper -- “Has Inflation Hurt the Poor? Regional Analysis in the Philippines” authored by ADB economist Hyun Son -- was that inflation was hitting poor Filipino consumers harder than the more affluent ones."Specifically, the poor are highly sensitive to the price changes in food, particularly staple food items such as rice,” the study said."In addition, concerns over rising food prices are surmounting because such increase can undermine the gains from poverty reduction and human development that developing countries...
from ABS CBN News A research agency, IBON Foundation, released three surveys that showed the perception Filipino respondents nationwide on the subjects of being poor, the oil deregulation law, and the trouble of making ends meet.The first survey released by IBON found out that the number of Filipinos who see themselves poor increased in the first four months of the year."The IBON April 2008 survey showed that 79.3% of 1,495 respondents thought of themselves as poor, an increase from 71.7% in January 2008," IBON said.The results of the self-rated poverty survey showed that 1,186 answered "yes" to the question "When you look at your situation today, do you think of yourself as poor?"This was followed by 236 who answered "no", 68 gave a "don’t know" reply, and five for "no...
from The Calgary Herald Man sending cash to family in Philippines Kelly CrydermanCalgary HeraldAs Geronimo Manalad signs the forms to transfer $800 to his family in the Philippines, he wishes it could be more.In the six months since the 43-year-old bus driver left for work in Canada, rice prices in his home country have doubled. Manalad has two children, and his elderly mother tells him on the phone she is worried about the family's food costs."Filipinos eat rice almost five times a day," Manalad said before he joined the line of people at the iRemit outlet in Pacific Place mall waiting to send money to their families around the world. "They don't have work," he said. "They depend on me."But Manalad, a temporary foreign worker who takes home about $2,000 in monthly pay, can't afford to...
from Bloomberg The Philippines, the world's biggest rice importer, canceled a tender to buy 675,000 metric tons as just one company submitted an offer, highlighting the tightness of supply in the global market and spurring a rebound in the price.Vietnam Southern Food Corp. was the only company to offer the grain, National Food Authority Deputy Administrator Vic Jarina said. The authority will wait until the ``market softens'' before holding another tender, possibly in the second half, he said today.The Philippines failed to fill a tender last month, helping rice prices rise to a record in Chicago on April 24. Philippine Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap said on May 2 that today's planned purchase was intended to boost stockpiles and the country was prepared to reject offers if it deemed...
from the InquirerBy Lira Dalangin-FernandezMANILA, Philippines -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has authorized the use of five percent of the 2007 budget surplus, or about P100 million, for programs related to rice, cheap consumer and medicine outlets, Philhealth, and microfinance programs to help poor families reeling from the high prices of commodities.Arroyo signed Administrative Order 225 to "harness idle resources to uplift the poor and boost rice supply to cushion the country from price spikes."Government-owned-and-controlled-corporations and government financial institutions covered by the order are the Philippine Gaming Corp., the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, the Social Security System, the Government Service Insurance System, the National Power Corp., and the...
from the Washington PostContraceptives, Rejected by Government, Are Unaffordable for Many in Majority-Catholic NationBy Blaine HardenMANILA -- Maria Susana Espinoza wanted only two children. But it was not until after the birth of her fourth child in six years that she learned any details about birth control."I knew it existed, but I didn't know how it works," said Espinoza, who lives with her husband and children in a squatter's hut in a vast, stinking garbage dump by Manila Bay.She and her family belong to the fastest-growing segment of the Philippine population: very poor people with large families. There are many reasons why this country is poor, including feudal patterns of land ownership and corrupt government. But there is a compelling link between family size and poverty. It...
from the AFP via GoogleMANILA (AFP) — Soaring food prices has pushed back Asia's fight against poverty and some countries may eventually need foreign aid to feed their hungry millions, the Asian Development Bank president said Friday.Haruhiko Kuroda singled out Bangladesh as potentially requiring outside assistance, saying the Manila-based ADB was ready to provide budgetary support to it and other low-income Asian countries that might be required to spend more to help out their poorest citizens.Kuroda said inflation was the most immediate threat to developing Asia's economic growth and said some economies would do well to allow their currencies to appreciate to put a lid on prices that have impacted heavily on the more than 600 million Asians who still lived on a dollar a day or...
from the InquirerBy Beverly T. NatividadMANILA, Philippines -- From decrying extrajudicial killings, human rights advocates are now hitting the government for its failure to provide adequate food to Filipinos, a human right, which they said, is also guaranteed by international law.The human rights groups Amnesty International (AI) and the Philippine Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA) have expressed alarm over the soaring prices of food and the government’s inability to cushion the blow for poor Filipinos.In a press briefing on Saturday, AI’s local executive director Aurora Parong said that the government had the “obligation to create conditions in order that food is available in adequate supply and that people can buy food.”She said that amid a looming food crisis, the...
from the Manila BulletinSenate chief to stress poverty issues at meetingVillar to ask IPU for help in solving poverty, food crisisSenate President Manny Villar will appeal to legislators from more than 140 countries to help solve the food crisis and poverty in developing countries as he prepares to lead a Senate delegation to the Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) in Cape Town, South Africa.Seeking to maximize the country’s membership to the prestigious organization of parliamentarians to help address the nation’s pressing needs, Villar said he will bring the lack of food and medicine in developing countries to the attention of the IPU during its 118th Assembly on April 13-18.Villar said he will ask countries with advanced agricultural technologies to help those that are...
from the Manila TimesBy Chino S. Leyco ReporterSocial and economic development in the Philippines remains uneven and poverty continues to be characterized by widespread disparities across regions and population groups, a recent United Nations country team report said.The report was presented last week to the Philippine Development Forum in Clark, Pampanga.Compared with other East Asian and Southeast Asian neighbors, the report said, poverty reduction in the country has lagged far behind that of Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China—countries that started with higher levels of poverty incidence than the Philippines but have successfully managed to lessen, if not virtually eliminate, extreme poverty.According to the country team report, there were 27.6 million poor Filipinos in 2006, a...
from The AgeA Philippine official called today for a permanent ban on kidney transplants for foreigners, saying a new government regulation would not stop a thriving black market in organ trade.Health Secretary Francisco Duque signed an order last week to create a government regulatory board to oversee kidney donations and transplants while making such highly secretive deals more transparent and ethical.Duque's order, which took more than two years to craft, prioritises Filipino patients over foreigners in the allocation of locally available kidneys for transplants and directs authorities to set limits.He has temporarily banned kidney transplants involving foreigners until such limits are set.Kidney trading, involving the poor and prisoners who sell their organs for paltry sums to...