Press Statement
October 16, 2008

RAMDAM NA RAMDAM ANG KAGUTUMAN AT KAHIRAPAN: ISULONG ANG KATIYAKAN SA PAGKAIN AT LIKAS-KAYANG KAUNLARAN

Philippine NGO Coalition for Food Security & Fair Trade (PNLC)

“Ramdam ang Kaularan” is the slogan that has been repeatedly proclaimed by the government to Filipinos. But the reality says otherwise. The number of individuals and families living below the poverty and subsistence thresholds has gone up since President Arroyo assumed power in 2001. From 33% (25.47 million individuals) of the population in 2000, the number of poor persons was 32.9% by 2006. But the absolute number of the poor increased to 27.61 million. The number of food-poor individuals (those below the subsistence level) has basically remained the same: from 12.2 million in 2000 to 12.22 million individuals in 2006. The 2006 Food Insecure and Vulnerable Areas in the Philippines research noted that there are 49 provinces or 63.8 % with food insecurity in varying degrees. Is this “kaunlaran”? Given this data, the Arroyo government program on food security and poverty reduction is a failure.

While there was economic growth under the Arroyo government, it has not been pro-poor growth. Former NEDA Director-General Cielito Habito calls it “puro-poor growth. Asset reforms have not been seriously implemented even if there are laws such as the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Law, Indigenous People’s Rights Act and New Fisheries Code of 1998 More than a million private agricultural lands owned by influential families remain undistributed to landless tenants and farmworkers. Small fisherfolks cannot compete with commercial fishing boats which are operating in municipal waters. With JPEPA’s approval, Japanese trawlers would be fishing in Philippine waters more freely. The existing access of indigenous peoples to their ancestral lands is threatened by the aggressive promotion of mining by the government.

Pro-poor growth has not also been realized because public funds are not wisely spent on economic and social services. Debt payments and the military have been the focus of the Arroyo administration. In the 2008 budget the funds for Agrarian Reform is P2.22 billion or 0.28%.; Agriculture, P3.32 billion or 0.43%.; the Military received P50.91 billion or 6.61 %; and debt service interest payments amount to P295.75 billion or 38.37%.

Aside from not allocating an adequate amount for economic and social services, the public funds is lost due to the never-ending corrupt practices of the current dispensation. The Department of Agriculture is the favorite milking cow. From the infamous fertilizer scam, other corruption cases were exposed such as the P5 billion swine scam, the P3.1 billion irrigation scam, the funding of dubious NGOs to implement the Ginintuan Masaganang Ani program and the Gulayan para sa Masa scam.

Making matters worse for the hungry, poor and unemployed Filipinos is the trade liberalization policies of the regime. The Philippines has turned from a net agricultural exporter to importer by the mid-1990s. The recent rice crisis and the massive rice importation illustrate our dependency on imports to feed our nation.

In the context of the global economic slowdown especially in developed countries, the Philippine NGO Coalition for Food Security & Fair Trade (PNLC) is strongly urging the government to:

ü       junk its present defective and corrupt economic framework

ü       sufficient funds for public works in the rural areas,

ü       provide employment and income to the people

ü       Transparency on the Food or cash transfer programs

ü       Extend and reform the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program

ü       Promote and support the sustainable agriculture.

ü      Provide support services for the marginalized sectors (farmers, fisherfolks and Indigenous
 peoples)

ü      Strict implementation of the 15 kilometer municipal waters zone as provided for in the Fisheries Code,

ü       Protect Indigenous peoples’ right to ancestral lands

ü       Protection of food producing resources.

ü       Encourage Local economies and developed with appropriate funds, technology, marketing assistance and human resource development

WFD 2008 Photos

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