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President Gloria Arroyo said soaring oil prices had hurt the
country’s fight against widespread poverty, despite high economic
growth last year.
“We are aware that no matter how much
improvement there is at the top of the economic ladder, many of our
people still struggle mightily,” she said late Sunday. The text of
her comments was released Monday.
“The high price of gasoline and everyday
commodities hits our poor the hardest,” she said in the southern
city of Cagayan de Oro, where she was guest in a gathering of
leaders of cooperatives.
“While the high price of oil is a global issue
outside the control of government, we have nevertheless taken and
will continue to take actions to reduce the pain on our people of
these high prices.”
Official figures released last week showed 3.8
million more people had joined the ranks of the poor between 2003
and 2006, amid cuts in social spending and new taxes to boost a
narrow revenue base.
The data showed one in three Filipinos lives on
$1 or less per day.
The economy grew at a 31-year high of 7.3
percent last year, when inflation was kept at a 20-year low of 2.8
percent.
But the Asian Development Bank has said not
enough jobs are being created amid insufficient investment and
obstacles to growth, such as poor infrastructure.
In a report, the Manila-based lender said
rampant corruption, political instability and poor tax collections
are the main culprits in the country’s worsening poverty
incidence.
The report said further that the pace of poverty
reduction has been slow, and income inequality remains stubbornly
high in the country.
“Many things are left to be done. I plan on
working hard with you the next two years to fulfill our Philippine
Reform Agenda until the day I leave office in 2010,” Mrs. Arroyo
said.
“We have made tough and unpopular decisions to
raise revenues, and we, in the executive [branch of government]
crack down on tax cheats so that we could invest in our physical
infrastructure and in our people.”
-- AFP
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