By Randy
David
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:41:00 04/10/2011
Filed Under: Opinion surveys, Poverty, Government
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:41:00 04/10/2011
Filed Under: Opinion surveys, Poverty, Government
THE
LATEST Social Weather Stations survey figures on hunger are truly alarming.
More than 20 percent of Filipino families (or more than 4 million families) have
reported experiencing involuntary hunger in the first quarter of 2011. Though
the number is slightly lower compared to a year ago, the March figures nonetheless show a steady quarterly rise
from the 15.9 percent of September last year. The problem, says SWS president
and Inquirer columnist Mahar Mangahas, appears to be
concentrated in Luzon, where hunger has risen to
a new record level of 25 percent. This is quite puzzling?and it is worth
figuring it out?for there has been no major natural
disaster in Luzon during the first quarter that might explain it.
The standard explanation would ascribe the rise in hunger to an
increase in food prices. If that is what the SWS figures are telling us,
then we should expect an even steeper increase in
hunger by the next quarter, when the inflation induced by recent global
events will be more severely felt. Still, there could be other factors behind
the hunger figures.
March is
always, for many poor families, an especially difficult month to hurdle.
Whatever was left over from cash gifts received during the holiday season would
be totally gone by then. In March, preparations for graduation are in full
swing. This is the time of the year when families are besieged by all kinds of
school collections which they cannot ignore or refuse to pay. The costs
associated with graduation?whether from pre-school, grade school or high
school?are often incredibly out of proportion to the earning capacities of
ordinary families.
But I
have a strong suspicion that what is causing a spike in
hunger rates in Luzon, ironically, is the ongoing enlistment for the
Conditional Cash Transfers Program of the Aquino administration. From
what I gather, the interviews to assess eligibility for benefits under the
expanded program began late last year and continue to the present. The indigent
Filipino mother who is angling for CCT benefits would not be able to tell the
difference between an interview conducted by the Department of Social Welfare
and Development and an SWS survey. She would not know that there is no
connection between the two. Hence, she would be inclined to picture her
family?s circumstances in the direst possible way to any interviewer.
News
about the CCT and the coming of the DSWD social workers into a community
spreads like wildfire. It triggers a sense of
anticipation that is instantly woven into the political and social dynamics of
a local community. A situation like this is hardly the right setting in
which to get an objective assessment of poverty and self-reported hunger. This
is not to cast doubt on the validity of the SWS findings, but merely to offer
an alternative account that might explain the unusually high incidence of
reported hunger in Luzon.
In any
event, it is difficult to deny the worsening poverty situation in the whole
country. What makes the situation unacceptable is that
more and more people are going hungry even while the economy is growing and
incomes at the top are rising. Wealth is certainly not trickling down,
and there is no sustained and systematic effort to help the many break away
from the vicious cycle of poverty.
Like all
doles, conditional cash assistance may help tide a family over for a couple of
days or a week, and it may even reduce hunger in the short term. But without a steady livelihood or source of income, an indigent
family has no chance of breaking the barriers to a better life. The CCT
program is definitely better than the desultory feel-good medical missions in
which we all participate at one time or other. But it is still a dole. It is
not a long-term solution to poverty.
The long-term solution has to focus on communities, not
individuals. It must focus on enhancing the
productive capacities of people, on helping them help themselves rather than
merely attending to their short-term needs. It has to be articulated in
clear unequivocal policies rather than merely expressed in high-visibility
charitable projects.
In
general, all of us probably subscribe to such views. Yet how many times have we
found ourselves repeatedly contributing to immediate and narrowly targeted
initiatives? Instead of re-distributing wealth we
distribute necessities to some people. The latter is vastly personal and
immediate in its impact, whereas economic justice is
anonymously structural, and it usually takes a long time for its
outcomes to be felt. The result is a public complacency about the social order
that is at the root of all the inequalities and exclusions in our midst.
Scandalized
by the pervasive poverty they see outside their gated neighborhoods, many rich
people try to justify the sharp differentials in wealth and opportunity they
see in our society. The shallow among them never tire of blaming the poor for
their laziness and irresponsibility. In a sense, this is their way of morally
rationalizing their good fortune. They do not see the fortuitous elements
behind their own personal successes.
The more
conscientious of them, who use their minds as well as their hearts, see the
many accidents that have shaped their lives for which they cannot claim any
credit?their birth in a fortunate family, the happy circumstances of an early
life, the accident of being born with qualities that are highly prized by
society at a given time. And so they regard their personal success in the world
as constituting a duty to help improve the lives of the less fortunate. This is
what distributive justice is about.
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As to what we all know, poverty is a condition that most Filipinos experiences. It is a state where a person who has little or nothing to support to their basic needs. Some define it as a denial of choices and opportunities, a violation of human dignity. It is the lack of basic capacity to participate effectively in society. Most people who suffers in poverty doesn't have enough money to clothe or feed themselves or their family, children doesn't have the opportunity to go to school or go to clinic and have check ups, and parents not having the land on which to grow one’s food or a job to earn one’s living.
Poverty is a one step backward in economy's development. This statement is supported by the effects that it brings to our economy. The poorer the country is, there will be an imbalance of our supplies and demand. The more poor people that a country has, there will be a great demand of goods and scarcity of supplies will happen. This is true when the demand of the people increase, prices tend to increase because of the scarcity that is happening. The producers need to increase their prices to meet the equilibrium so that there will be more output of supplies.
Unemployment is also visible in this part. Many people can't go to school when poverty occurs. Illiterate people will be the product of no opportunities going to school. These illiterate people are most likely to engage in crimes. They engage imposes large monetary and other personal costs on their
victims, as well as the costs to the taxpayer of administering huge
criminal justice system. Their poor health generates illness and early mortality which not only
require large healthcare expenditures, but also impede productivity and
ultimately reduce their quality and quantity of life.
Tourism in a country will also decrease. The more crime that a country has, tourism declines because of the news and negative feed-backs that crimes will make. No more foreigners will come and visit to the country and economy will tend to fail. If there is any common association of poverty with bad environment, it's probably because of those pictures of children running around in waste dumps. There is no link between any effects of poverty and the environment. Those toxic places prove very harmful to the poor, who actually tend to
reuse, recycle or resell whatever they can find in there.
As a student, the only thing that I can do right now is to do good in my studies, so that in the near future, I can have job and do my responsibility as a citizen in our country. I can pay my taxes and help the needy by that. And as a teen of this country, I would likely to say that government should impose laws of having more job opportunities and education to the poor. But more importantly, as a citizen in this country, we all should do the task as a citizen of the Philippines and be responsible to all the decisions that we make.
