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The failure of the government to provide employment to about 4mn jobless Filipinos nationwide is the reason why the incidence of poverty in the country remains high, and unless it is addressed the number will continue to grow. |
Former senate president Ernesto Maceda has said the government must adopt programmes that increase government hiring instead of relying so much on foreign and local companies investing in the country.
To do this, he said, the present administration must increase the budgets of various government agencies like the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH), Department of the Education (DepEd), Department of Health and the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) for them to hire more personnel.
Maceda, a senatorial candidate of the opposition United Nationalist Alliance, said the DPWH budget should be increased to 700bn pesos from its current P152.4bn, in order to implement more infrastructure projects which would demand more workers.
Malacanang should also listen to the request of DepEd Secretary Armin Luistro and hire an additional 100,000 teachers; the need of the Philippine National Police to enlist additional 50,000 policemen, employ 44,000 more nurses and assign one nurse for every barangay.
Senior citizens should also be given monthly pension not lower than P1,400 a month similar to the conditional cash transfer programme (CCT) for the poorest of the poor.
The government should also increase its small business loan programme to cover at least 1mn applicants who want to start their own business.
“Unless and until the joblessness is addressed the incidence of poverty will continue to grow,” Maceda said in an interview with Manila Times.
The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) in its report indicated that the poverty incidence under the administration of President Benigno Aquino is the same as the previous administration under Gloria Arroyo.
San Juan Rep. Jose Victor Ejercito Estrada has said that the NSBC report shows the real situation of the country under the first half of the Aquino administration and it should serve as a wake up call for the government to re-think its poverty alleviation programmes.
“The report emphasised the need for the government to focus on real issues the country is facing where the rich are becoming more richer while the poor poorer,” Estrada said in a text message.
Estrada, one of the strongest senatorial candidates of the UNA, said that the government must make sure that so called economic growth being experienced by the country should not only be printed in newspapers but also be felt by the common people.
Another UNA bet, Rep. Milagros Magsaysay, said that the government must re-evaluate its strategies in curbing poverty because it is clear that its current methods have hardly made a dent in the living conditions of the country’s poor.
“The NSCB is a government office yet it could not deny the fact that President Aquino has failed to improve the lives of the poor during the first three years of his term. The income of almost 28% of the Filipino population remains below the poverty line, which is a minor improvement from data from 2006 and 2009.”
She added that instead of pointing fingers on who are to blame, the president should order his people to find better means to address the issues that factor in the country’s poverty problem.
The unchanged poverty incidence in the country which traces its roots to 2006 is due to population growth, Team PNoy campaign manager Sen. Franklin Drilon said yesterday.
Drilon, a stalwart of the Liberal Party, made the argument a day after the government agency National Statistics and Coordination Board announced that one out of four Filipinos, or 27.8% are poor, almost the same level as in 2006 (26%) and 2009 (28%).
Drilon noted that the Aquino administration is keen on abating poverty by increasing the national budget for social services such as the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino programme, earmarking P25bn for PhilHealth and funneling P40bn for the National Housing programme.
The passage of the sin tax law which imposes higher taxes on tobacco and liquor products, Drilon said, would also pave the way for the effective implementation of the Universal Healthcare Programme.
“The reduction of poverty takes time. We are willing to face UNA and other critics with regard to the capacity of this government to govern properly and honestly, and what it has achieved in terms of ethical leadership and poverty alleviation,” Drilon added, referring to opposition UNA.
Even Sen. Antonio Trillanes, a member of the LP-led collation, expressed belief that the reported economic growth of the country should result in the creation of more jobs and the government is the one that should make it happen.
According to him the only way to help lessen poverty incidence is by giving people their source of livelihood through job generation brought by the sound economic growth of the country.
Meanwhile, two Roman Catholic bishops yesterday said the economic gains of the country was yet to benefit the poor sector.
Cubao Bishop Ongtioco believed the results of the recent survey on poverty prevalence shows that the rich people had got richer.
“Only people in upper bracket are benefiting,” the prelate said.
Bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon said the growth economically had not trickled down to the disadvantaged individuals.
“All the so-called economic gains in the past six years benefited only the rich,” Bastes said.
Both bishops agreed that the results of the recent survey gave the real evidence about the society.
“My personal assessment is poverty incidence is still the same though economy has improved,” Ongtioco said.
“It seems to be true because I feel no improvement for our poor people,” Bastes added.