July 28, 2008 · Posted in: Governance, In the News
Hunger, poverty figures the President chose to ignore
PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo today exuded confidence in announcing in her state of the nation address that she has addressed the incidence of hunger, even noting how “unfriendly polls” have registered low self-rated poverty figures.
Arroyo, however, chose to emphasize portions of the poverty surveys that she could use, choosing to quote results that are no longer current.
On the issue of self-rated poverty, for instance, Social Weather Stations surveys did show that self-rated poverty is down to its 20-year low in 2007. In a self-poverty rating, SWS asked household heads “to point to where they belong on a card with the words “poor” on one side, “not poor” on the opposite side, and a line in between.”
But what is missing is the fact that figures have declined as families lowered their living standards, that is, belt-tightening in order not to be considered poor. In fact, SWS reported that this is the reason why there is a declining poverty threshold, despite the rising cost of living.
In Metro Manila, for example, the median poverty threshold was recorded at P9,000 in the mid-year 2007 survey, even though it had reached P15,000 many times before. SWS reported that this monthly median poverty threshold is equivalent to only P6,259 in base year 2000’s purchasing power. According to the survey, the last time that the National Capital Region recorded a deflated poverty threshold below P7,000 was 20 years ago, in 1987.
The president, in her 2008 SONA Technical Report, also boasted of addressing hunger incidence.
In her report, which she based on the SWS 2008 first quarter survey, the “national hunger incidence declined by 0.7 percentage points from 16.2 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 15.7 percent in the first quarter of 2008.”
Arroyo also highlighted the decline in hunger incidence recorded in all regions — three percentage points in Metro Manila, two percentage points in both Visayas and Mindanao.
Her report even mentioned that the “positive development may be attributed to the government’s resolute pursuit of its Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program,” which was designed to increase food production and improve distribution. “Under these supply-demand strategies are specific programs that the government is currently implementing not only to address hunger but to ensure food security as well.”
But what Arroyo failed to mention was that the decline was slight, or equivalent to 2.8 million families.
And that while the numbers were down, they were still four points above the 12.0 average percentage of hunger in 40 quarterly SWS surveys from mid-1998 to the present.
In specific areas, like in Metro Manila, hunger fell by three points (19 percent to 15.7 percent) but which was still five points above the nine-year average of 11.6 percent, according to SWS. It was the same in Mindanao, where the decline — from 20.3 percent to 18 percent — was still four points above the nine-year average of 14.1 percent.
Arroyo also did not mention in her SONA technical report the results of the 2008 second quarter survey, where hunger rose to 16.3 percent — or four points above the 10-year average hunger rate of 12.1 percent — and severe hunger to 4.2 percent.
Severe hunger, or those who experience it “often” or “always” in the last three months, was experienced by some 760,000 families, up from 3.2 percent or only 570,000 families.
And while moderate hunger, or those who went hungry “only once” or “a few times,” declined slightly (12.5 percent in March to 12.1 percent in June), the figure is still four points above the nine-year average of 8.8 percent.
In fact, SWS reported that “both Severe Hunger and Moderate Hunger are now higher in Metro Manila than in other areas.” In both Visayas and Mindanao, severe hunger likewise increased.
2 Responses to Hunger, poverty figures the President chose to ignore
nielsky_2003
July 30th, 2008 at 4:33 am
Critique on PGMA’s 2008 Sona
The acknowledgment given by no less than the President of the Republic of the Philippines to at least a dozen ordinary Filipinos on the occasion of her State of the Nation Address did justice to the newly-refurbished Congress by the new Speaker courtesy of taxpayers’ money. The one-day affair costs a P100 million after many years of neglect of a historical edifice that ought to be preserved and maintained.
On the viewing screen, at least, it serves as therapy that we don’t have to see a clapping Speaker as much as an equally patronizing Senate President. Fact is, Villar practically did not have to clap his hands that must have made it inhibitive for Nograles to have to overdo any indicative patronage act. Coming as 8th in a row of Sonas, this is probably the lousiest sona ever delivered lacking as it does in its climactic effect.
As reported, the sona has gone through 20 drafts to have been finalized on the wee hours of the morning. Paradoxically, right after the speech, headlines say that there was actually nothing in a P50 cents reduction in text messages. This has given PGMA away or whoever wrote that sona? Where it reads, the piece must have been written by a not-too-above-average person of influence. Fact is, it was almost unpresidential.
What has a sona got to do with the personal circumstances of the likes of Federico Alvarez – a jeepney driver; Rodney Berdin – 13 year-old boy; Edwin Bandila – a rice farmer; Rosario Camma – chieftain and mayor (in tribal attire); Jessica Barlomento, Shenve Catana, Mary Grace Comendador, Marlyn Tusi – all welders of Hanjin (a private firm); Victoria Mindoro – a farmer and factory worker; Pedro and Concordia Faviolas – rubber farmers; Justice Vitug and Francis Lim – of Texas Instruments and Philippine Stock Exchange, respectively; Allan Amanse – a fisherman turned whaleshark watching officer; and Joey Concepcion – a partner entrepreneur?
The story line seems to generalize from very individual instances of deceptive successes by particular individuals and necessarily, it is grossly violative of logic as we normally understand. We simply cannot generalize from limited particulars – in this case, singular instances or specimens. Its residual media value is of course of some help perhaps to launch that self-confessed admission of PGMA to spend her time daily with the underprivileged. But this piece of PR utterly lacks that modicum of honesty that makes advertising a good one.
There isn’t really much of a corpus of data that will make it hard for the average layman to understand from PGMA’s speech. There is no linguistic barrier as would otherwise make it difficult for readers to get the gist of what the PGMA has to say she has accomplished and will continue to accomplish. In other words, the sona is couched in near layman terms.
PGMA turned the oil price issue as a convenient scapegoat for the shortcomings of government in fiscal matters and braggingly enough, claims the government has all the money to cushion off the impact of oil price spikes.
Cunningly, PGMA defended her VAT policy dismissing as she did that opinion polls made her look unpopular. In her exhaustive enumeration of the amounts of money taken from VAT for various programs of government, it becomes crystal clear that without VAT, her administration has long succumbed to death. It further became clear that Malacanang always allocates from P.5 billion to P4 billion for every program it envisions to undertake. For instance, PGMA allocated P3 billion for anti-graft fund, can you believe it?
It ought to challenge reflection the uncharacteristic pride PGMA exhibits in her mention that Land Bank has quadrupled loans for farmers and fisherfolks; that Pag-Ibig loans have increased from P3.8 billion to P22.6 billion; that SSS as it is with GSIS has increased salary loans benefits to employees since 2001; or that PhilHealth has paid P100 billion for hospitalization (fact or fiction?).
In the end, there is nothing to be thankful of about programs being implemented by this government. Managing corporate RP has become a profitable business in governance that even government banks have become loan sharks to – fool the people, buy the people, off the people. See you in the 9th.
PRIMER C. PAGUNURAN
UP Diliman, Quezon City Email: nielsky_2003@yahoo.com Cellphone: 09164985265
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