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Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP)-Philippines,
a local network of nongovernment and people’s organizations that
is part of the biggest antipoverty alliance in the world, calls on
the people to take a stand against poverty by casting their vote for
change. GCAP challenges the senatorial candidates to address the
problem of poverty in their platforms.
“The electoral platforms of the
senatorial candidates should be responsive to the rising incidence
of hunger and poverty in the country,” asserted Marivic Raquiza,
national coordinator of GCAP-Philippines. “With more than 50
percent of the labor force, or roughly 16.1 million Filipino workers
earning poverty wages, we wonder what growth this government is
talking about. Unfortunately, the administration is in denial about
this reality. The first step in addressing the problem is to admit
it exists.
“For us, ordinary Filipinos,
life has indeed worsened,” shared Edwin Nacpil, chairman of
Kalipunan ng Samahang Maralita sa Pilipinas (KaSaMa-Pilipinas).
“The government claims today that unemployment went down because
of a rise in jobs in the service sector, but just like last year,
this could be in the areas of unpaid family labor, ambulant vendors
and domestic helpers. This is work created by Filipinos who need to
work in order to survive. No wonder thousands of Filipinos, most of
whom are women, leave for abroad to find better jobs.”
The latest Social Weather Station
survey (March 2007) illustrates the significant increase from last
year’s 16.5 million Filipinos who experience “involuntary
hunger” has risen to 17 million Filipinos, or 1 in every 5
households (with at least 3.4 million households).
“What we have is not only bad
governance, but absent governance. The government is just not there,
especially not for the poor and socially excluded,” stressed Penny
Disimban, national chairman of Assalam Bangsamoro People’s
Association. “Budgetary allocation for basic social services has
been going down since 1999, and as usual, debt service will get 29
percent of the budget, which shows that this government is more
concerned about looking good before our creditors than about the
health, education and welfare of our people.”
According to the Freedom from
Debt Coalition, a partner of GCAP, the total borrowings of the
Arroyo administration, at P2.77 trillion, is already higher than the
combined debt of Cory Aquino, Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada, which
totals to P1.51 trillion.
According to Arze Glipo,
executive director of the Integrated Rural Development Foundation (IRDF),
“The official national poverty threshold is P41 per person per day
for food and nonfood needs; a threshold which groups like GCAP or
Social Watch-Philippines criticize as ‘ridiculously low.’ This
means poor Filipinos have to survive on less than a dollar a day for
food, water, medicine, transportation, education, shelter,
electricity and others. P41 is way below the international poverty
threshold for middle-income countries like the Philippines, which is
at US$2 a day.”
“We, Filipinos, should exercise
our right to vote. We urge our kababayans to take a stand against
poverty and vote for change as this government has shown that it is
more focused on its political survival over that of the welfare and
survival of our people,” declared Kabataan Kontra Kahirapan
chairman, Luis Granados. He added, “However, we challenge all the
other senatorial candidates to include a strong antipoverty
component in their platforms by considering the following:
1. Push for equitable
distribution of growth, which includes supporting the completion of
the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, and investments in
infrastructure that benefit the poor;
2. Increase employment
opportunities through an integrated agroindustrial plan;
3. Push for a
P125-across-the-board wage increase to partially close the wage
differentials and to help improve the quality of life of our
workers;
4. Expose and stop the systematic
exploitation of Fili-pino migrant labor and support them so that
they enjoy better work conditions, their dignity is upheld and their
rights protected;
5. Increase public investments in
basic health, education, water and sanitation, toward fulfillment of
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs);
6. Call on congress to repeal PD
1177 (the automatic appropriation of debt payment) and to undertake
a comprehensive Legislative Debt Audit of all public debt and
contingent liabilities;
7. Address ecological
deterioration, especially those that affect livelihoods and the
general habitat of the poor and socially excluded;
8. Call for ordinary citizens to
come forward, be involved and make a difference.
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