Tuesday, 20 October 2009
Five presidential hopefuls gave their insights on how they will deal with the problem of poverty in the Philippines should they be elected—or in the case of one, re-elected—as president of the country.Former President Joseph “Erap” Estrada, Senators Richard “Dick” Gordon and Francis “Chiz” Escudero, environmentalist Nicanor “Nick” Perlas, and Olongapo City Councilor John Carlo “JC” delos Reyes answered questions raised by members of the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines (FOCAP) in the “Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Leaders’ Forum” on Tuesday.
The Millennium Declaration in 2000 was agreed upon by 191 UN member-states. The MDGs set targets that must be met by 2015.
Environment and poverty
Perlas said the environment is a big factor in either contributing to or alleviating poverty.
Unless the environment is cared for, the impact of climate change will continue to destroy the country's natural resources. He recalled the loss of lives and damages to agriculture and infrastructure caused by tropical storms Ketsana (Ondoy) and Parma (Pepeng).
Escudero echoed Perlas’ sentiment and cited the need to care for the environment.
“No matter how much the government spends, we would always be going back to square one” if the country is not prepared for the extreme effects of the changing environment, he said.
“Plant where we should, not where we will, but where we must,” said Senator Gordon, who personally went to areas hit by both storms as chairman of the Philippine National Red Cross.
Employment needed
Escudero said “meaningful and long lasting jobs” are needed to alleviate poverty.
He said that the government should not simply provide jobs, but address the present mismatch between what college graduates learn and the skills needed in the job market.
“We have to ensure that each and every Filipino will land a job here or abroad,” he said.
Aside from that, Escudero said the government should assess the skills of the jobless and how they should be trained so they can be employed once again. Skills training is needed to meet international requirements.
Delos Reyes, however, does not think that employment overseas will improve the condition of Filipinos.
He proposed that there should be a focus on small- or medium-scale enterprises in barangays in the provinces. In addition, banks should be more lenient in providing start-up capital for new businessmen.
“We should make every barangay a ‘productivity center,’” he said.
The former president presented a more traditional approach in creating jobs in rural communities. He said the government should invest in infrastructure and equipment that will help raise agricultural productivity.
Estrada said more farm-to-market roads are needed to more efficiently bring farmers’ products to different locations.
As a former tourism secretary, Gordon said he witnessed how the tourism industry could generate sustainable employment.
He said unemployed Filipinos could be food and beverage vendors and tourist guides. They can also produce and sell native products in specialty shops. Visiting foreigners may be encouraged to invest in the areas where these goods are produced.
Gambling: poverty contributor or alleviator?
Perlas and delos Reyes said gambling contributes to poverty and should not be legalized.
Gambling teaches Filipinos “that poverty could just be eradicated by just a few wins,” said Perlas.
Delos Reyes said the government applies a double-standard by legalizing gambling in casinos, where the rich play, while making the poor man's numbers game, jueteng, illegal.
Instead of legalizing gambling, Delos Reyes said any form of gambling should be made illegal.
Gordon said gambling should be eradicated "so long as the people from the countryside will have opportunities."
Estrada, who tried to legalize jueteng during his presidency, said this form of gambling should be allowed since there are many people “who cannot get...jobs that are available.”
He said that illegal gambling “is better than resorting to drugs or crimes," and that “more than a million families could find livelihood in this [jueteng]."
Importance of agriculture
Four of the 5 presidential aspirants mentioned the need to improve the agriculture sector in order to reduce poverty.
Perlas said modernization of agriculture is important if we want to alleviate poverty in the country since 70% of the poor live in rural areas. He added that 60% of the poor are dependent on agriculture and fisheries.
Escudero called for bigger spending on agriculture in order to reduce food prices.
“We must also spend on agriculture so that we can lower the cost of food, so that people can live better lives and perhaps avoid hunger,” he said.
Following Escudero’s statement, Estrada said that “food security that is based on agriculture” is possible because agriculture generates sustainable employment.
Gordon said agriculture modernization is important to achieving food security for Filipinos.
However, he lamented “we cannot even repair our fertilizer and irrigation equipment and systems,” which means lower food production.
“We’re going to have to import more rice, and importing more rice leads to more corruption, and this is pervasive in our country at all times,” Gordon said, citing the importance of food self-sufficiency.
The 8 MDGs
“Eradicating extreme poverty and hunger” is the first of the 8 MDGs. The 7 other goals are:
* to achieve universal primary education;
* promote gender equality and empower women;
* reduce child mortality;
* improve maternal health;
* combat HIV/AIDs;
* malaria and other diseases;
* ensure environmental sustainability; and,
* develop a global partnership for development.
(abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak)
Source: http://newsbreak.com.ph/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=6985&Itemid=88889051
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