The results of the latest survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS) regarding the incidence of hunger and poverty are better indicators of the economic situation instead of the so-called growth statistics released by the government.
BY BENJIE OLIVEROS
Bulatlat
The SWS survey conducted from September 24 to October 2002 revealed that 2.9 million households, or 16.9 percent of the total 17.4 million households in the Philippines, have experienced hunger at least once during the last three months. It also reported that 51 percent consider themselves poor.
The SWS said that 800,000 households reported suffering “severe hunger” or going hungry “often” or “always” in the last three months. This represents an increase of 4.6 percent in September compared to 3.4 percent in June.
About 2.1 million households – an increase to 12.3 percent in September from 10.1 percent in June – reported suffering “moderate hunger” or experiencing it “only once” or “a few times” in the last three months.
The households that suffered hunger increased in all areas except in Metro Manila. This belied the claim of House Deputy Majority Leader Antonio Cerilles of Zamboanga del Sur that the survey “ignored the positive developments in the countryside.” In fact, the highest incidence of hunger was in Mindanao.
Misleading
Other “great defenders” of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration in Congress claimed that the recent survey was “misleading.” But how can it be misleading when it was based on face-to-face interviews with 1,200 statistically-representative households from 240 geographical spots selected from all regions?
What proves to be misleading is the 5.5 percent growth in the gross domestic product (GDP) as claimed by the Macapagal-Arroyo administration. Even more outrageous is the supposed increase in the per capita income.
The GDP is merely a measurement of local output within a certain timeframe. A GDP growth supposedly reflects economic expansion which then results in more employment and income for the population. This is known as the “trickle-down effect.” But this does not necessarily happen.
Statistics can be easily manipulated, and economic growth as measured by the GDP does not automatically lead to more employment and the improvement in living conditions of the general population. The U.S., for example, is experiencing economic growth without a corresponding increase in employment. Worse, U.S. corporations are retrenching workers.
The per capita income, on the other hand, is computed by dividing the national income by the total population. Increases in the per capita income do not take into account disparities in wealth and income, as well as ownership and control of resources.
Wrong solutions
The Arroyo administration, through Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye, said that it is addressing hunger and poverty. “We are engaged in a combination of measures to fight hunger ranging from rolling stores selling food at socialized prices, emergency employment such as the road improvement program, working with local governments to identify and serve families at the hunger threshold, aggressive agricultural extension services to the poorest farm and fisher folk households, and facilitation of foreign assistance such as the (United Nations) World Food Program in the conflict areas of Mindanao.”
But rolling stores, already few and hardly visible, do not make a difference in the people’s lives as the prices of basic commodities, services and utilities continue to rise. Basic government services are becoming scarce as budgets are reduced and privatization is in full swing. Agricultural extension services are useless as poor farmers do not own the land they till and are forced to borrow at usurious rates for farm inputs.
Rep. Federico Sandoval II (LP, Malabon-Navotas) said that the government was bent on pursuing its agriculture programs to “provide enough food for everyone and ensure that agriculture products reach the market in the most efficient way.” But with land use and crop conversion schemes, agricultural production is increasingly being geared toward cash crop production instead of agricultural outputs like rice that the people need. In fact, from being a net exporter of rice, the Filipino people’s staple food, the country is now a net importer of rice and other staples.
House Majority Leader Prospero Nograles said that President Arroyo’s “super region” projects should be strengthened, especially in Mindanao, to address hunger and poverty. He added that in Mindanao there is plenty of land to plant rice, vegetables and fruits.
However, the current problem of hunger in the country is not caused by the lack of available food. It is primarily rooted in the inability of the majority of the population to buy food. It is not caused by the dearth of arable land to plant food crops. It may be traced to the concentration of land to a few big landlords and corporations and the landlessness of the peasant majority. Hunger is not caused by the lack in “development projects.” It is due to the displacement of peasants and indigenous peoples in the name of development.
The prevalence of hunger and poverty is not due to the Filipino workers’ “picky” attitude when it comes to jobs. It is because the economy does not generate enough jobs for workers in the first place. In addition, majority of those unemployed and underemployed do not qualify for the few salaried jobs available, such as in call centers, medical transcription, animation and the like.
Sandoval is asking the Filipinos to be patient. But they have been patient for so long. The percentage of households experiencing hunger has been in double-digit levels since the third quarter of 2004. And things are not getting any better. They are getting worse.
High farm input prices, depressed farm gate prices and increased importation of agricultural products have led to more farm closures and bankruptcies of farmers. The intensification of land use and crop conversion schemes and the expansion of operations of mining and agro-industrial firms are causing more displacements and landlessness. Local manufacturing establishments are closing down because of import liberalization. In fact, closures have increased by 50 percent from 2004 to 2005.
Things are getting worse not in spite of but because of the economic program of privatization, liberalization, and deregulation of the Arroyo administration. Ironically, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo led last October 16 a nationwide simultaneous flag-raising ceremony at Malacanang to signify the country’s participation in the campaign of the United Nations to “make poverty history by 2015.”
How can the Macapagal-Arroyo administration combat poverty when it is implementing a development program that worsens what is being addressed?(Bulatlat.com)
