Two Faces Of Poverty In Kidapawan City

Two faces of poverty – a homeless man sleeps under the shadow of a tree and a boy who sells pineapples – in Kidapawan City in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo - Geo Solmerano)

Life is Hard!

A man peddles assorted trays made from straws and other indigenous materials in Kidapawan City in the southern Philippines. Many middle class Filipinos resort to small trades in an effort to augment the family income. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geo Solmerano)

Floods submerged Maguindanao villages

Days of heavy rains since Sunday, July 26, 2009 have flooded many villages in Maguindanao province in the Muslim autonomous region in Mindanao. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Mark Navales)

SULTAN KUDARAT, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 27, 2009) – Heavy rains the past days have flooded many areas in the Muslim province of Maguindanao in the southern Philippines.

Thousands of families have been affected by flash floods in Maguindanao, one of the poorest provinces in the country; and also in Cotabato City.

Roads in Sultan Kudarat were impassable and many residents were spotted on roof of their houses. Others evacuated to safer areas.

Villagers complained of lack of food and have appealed for government food aid. (With a report from Mark Navales)

University of the Philippines mulls new course on poverty reduction

The Philippines can’t wait for a proposal of a group of scientists and educators to take off - that is to establish a course on poverty reduction. The Department of Science and Technology’ National Academy of Science and Technology and University of the Philippines raised the possibility to open such course under UP Open University program hoping that poverty and hunger in the country will be addressed. (Photo by AKP Images / Gigie Cruz)

Photo: Homeless In Digos

A homeless child sleeps on the pavement in Digos City in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geonarri Solmerano)

Photo: Boy Collects And Sells Empty Plastic Bottles In Kidapawan City

A grade school student collects empty plastic bottles every day and sells them to junk shops for P5 a kilo to help his poor family in the southern Filipino city of Kidapawan. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Geonarri Solmerano)

Give Voice To The Voiceless; Denounce Poverty, Spanish Priest Urges Zamboanga Media

A boy digs for scraps in the village of Tetuan in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. Influential Spanish priest Angel Calvo gestures as he speaks about poverty during a training and seminar on poverty and human rights reporting by the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines in Zamboanga City on Sunday, October 12, 2008. The training was attended by journalists in Zamboanga City. (Photos of Father Angel Calvo and participants to the NUJP training are courtesy of FotoReportage / http://fotoreportage.wordpress.com/)

ZAMBOANGA CITY, Philippines – “Journalists should denounce poverty and give voice to the voiceless,” this was the message of Spanish Father Angel Calvo in his lecture during a training on human rights and poverty reporting in Zamboanga City in Mindanao.

The training, held at the Solidarity Center in Roseller Lim Blvd., was sponsored by the National Union of Journalists in the Philippines (NUJP), the Institute of War and Peace Reporting, Center for Community Journalism and Development and the Davao City-based media cooperative MindaNews.

At least 18 local journalists, who are working for newspapers, radio and television outfits, participated in the training.

Father Calvo, who heads the independent Zamboanga-Basilan Integrated Development Alliance (ZABIDA), spoke on the poverty condition in Zamboanga City.

“Poverty is a very complicated issue and journalists should take extra care when reporting it,” he told participants.

He also presented photographic slides and a documentary-MTV about poverty in Zamboanga City.

The influential priest, who also heads the Peace Advocates Zamboanga, cited the massive influx of people from neighboring provinces as one factor that contributed heavily to the poverty situation here.

The Spanish-funded ZABIDA program, which started in 2007, aims to fight poverty and at the same time strengthens peace and security in the communities.

The Manos Unidas together with the Agency for International Cooperation, the development assistance arm of the Spanish government, are funding the ZABIDA program.

The Peace and Equity Foundation also has listed 33 out of 98 villages in Zamboanga City as priority areas, which mean that many of its residents cannot even meet their basic needs and have no access to basic social services.

In a study, it said that more than 50% of the entire city populations are living below the poverty threshold.

“Poverty is not only economic issue but more of moral issue today,” Father Calvo said.

The Peace and Equity Foundation was formed as an independent non-profit foundation on October 2001 by the Caucus of Development NGOs to support the work of civil society in eradicating poverty and marginalization.

The Foundation administers an endowment fund from the net proceeds of the Poverty Eradication and Alleviation Certificate (PEACe) Bonds developed and sold on the capital market by CODE-NGO. As a funding institution, it will not go into direct implementation of projects nor undertake direct training and capacity building programs.

Darwin Wally Wee, chairman of the local NUJP chapter, the seminar is part of a series of training being carried out by the local NUJP chapter since it was organized in August.

He said the seminar is aimed at educating journalists on poverty and human rights reporting and the responsibilities of the media as the vanguard of democracy.

“Such training would further enhance the knowledge and widen the understanding of journalists on reporting these sensitive issues of human rights and poverty,” he said.

“Human rights and poverty are sensitive issues and therefore critical analysis of the situation is necessary,” said Maricel Pascual, a participant in the seminar. “The training and seminar is very helpful because it presented a very clear picture of poverty as well as other factors involved in it,” said Pascual, a local radio reporter.

NUJP Secretary General Rowena Paraan was the main speaker during the training and she lectured on the basics of human rights and the role of media in covering and writing stories on poverty, among others. (Nung Aljani)

Life on the Streets of Ermita Still Beats Life Back Home: Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project

Life in the streets of Ermita: Extreme poverty pushed it, but one says it could also be a matter of choice. (Photo by Arnel Gomez)

MANILA, Philippines (Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project / Sept. 25, 2008) - Mary Grace Pulido, 17, is from Ermita. She was born there, grew up there, and lives there. She even found her man there. Her life is on the street.

She and her family often move from one corner to another but Mary Grace has known no other home except the sidewalks of this tourist district of Manila, a stone’s throw from the US Embassy.

Her parents came to the Philippine capital in the 1980s from Baguio City, 240 kilometers north of Manila, with hopes of finding a better life. But like so many others before and after them, all they found instead were the realities of a harsh life and tried to survive in a city without work. Within days and with no money or prospects for returning home they ended up on the streets, begging, living and bringing up a family as best they could.

Their belongings comprise some folded cardboard they use as sleeping mats, pots, pans and plate for cooking, and some clothes. When the rains come, it is very easy to gather everything up together and run into a nearby church for shelter.

When they feel nature’s calling, they use a nearby public toilet costing PhP 10 (US cents 22) a visit. They also use the showers here while many other street families make do simply with the monsoon rains in the wet season and a hosepipe and soap in the dry months.

Perhaps because they always keep together and are always moving around, they have never been victims of violence nor recruited by criminal gangs.

Mary Grace claims she made it to Grade 3 in school, but was forced to quit because her parents could not afford to keep her in class.

“I earn PhP 50 to 100 a day,” (USD 1 to 2),” she told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project. “On some days I get nothing save a handful of coins.”

Mary Grace wants a change in her life as she prepares to have her own family with her partner Chris Dela Cruz, 12 years her senior.

Chris is also a beggar, something that Mary Grace doesn’t want her children to become.
“I don’t want to have many children,” she says. “Maybe one or two will do, so they can all go to school.”

As she speaks, her eyes watch the children – half-naked and filthy -- playing in the street. Five of them are her sister’s children.

Foreign tourists

Mary Grace and her family are among the hundreds of street dwellers in Ermita, a district known for its pubs, clubs and restaurants frequented by foreign tourists who the police say unknowingly attracting the beggars to this part of the city.

Superintendent Rogelio Rosales, chief of Manila Police District Station 5, says many beggars choose Ermita because tourists would rather give a few pesos than be jostled or harassed.

It is a common tactic for beggars, particularly young children to crowd around a passing tourist in small groups, following him until he takes out some change. The police have received complaints from visitors who claim they have been surrounded and robbed by young gangs.

In response, the police have run operations to clear the streets, bringing the children and their families to government-run temporary shelters where social workers try and help them from returning back to the streets.

“But it seems though all our efforts are futile,” complains Rosales. “Within three days you see them again all back on the streets. It’s an endless cycle.”

Rosales adds that the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) needs to examine its programs and policies to see what is not working and why.

Responsible party

But the DSWD points to local government units (LGUs) which should give aid to street dwellers, calling these as the ‘first line of defense’ against homelessness. DSWD insists its role is simply to support LGU initiatives.

Ricardo De Guzman, chief of staff of Manila Mayor Alfredo Lim, told the Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project said the city has one shelter for child beggars and another for the aged beggars. These provide support on a long-term basis and address basic needs such as education for the children and health care for the elderly.

The problem however is that each shelter could only accommodate 200 persons. “Right now, all these shelters are full so we don’t really know where to put everybody else,” says De Guzman.

Alongside the two long-term shelters, the city provides temporary places where street families can stay, eat and rest free for up to a week only. Adults are provided livelihood trainings while those from the provinces are given tickets back home and a small allowance to help them start anew.

The city has set up a system to monitor the beggars as soon as they step out of the shelters. Unfortunately, some of those given assistance to go home have returned to the same streets where the police found them, says De Guzman.

Poverty

DSWD Undersecretary Alicia Bala says the proliferation of beggars is a basic issue of poverty. “These street dwellers go back to their province, try to start anew with their new skills, but there is no economic activity there so they come back to Manila.”

Bala says this is true not only for street dwellers in Ermita but for all those across Metro Manila. Other highly-urbanized areas around the country like Davao and Cebu have the same dilemma, she says.

The problem of delivering real and lasting change compelled groups such as Caritas Manila to redirect focus. Until 2004, the Catholic relief organization provided direct services to street dwellers all over Metro Manila.

But review of its program indicated that Caritas only reaped temporary and unsustainable results. It also faced difficulty in tracking and monitoring effects of its services due to the inherent mobility of street dwellers.

Caritas later decided to focus on specific social needs of the poorest families – housing and land tenure, justice, jobs and family, including health and education issues.

Not enough

The government’s Council for the Welfare of Children (CWC) admits efforts of government and non-government agencies to provide services for those people and families living on the street “never seem to be enough.”

There are now about 350 of these agencies responding to an estimated 45,000 street children and their families nationwide, CWC says. Five per cent of the children are said to have suffered abuse or have engaged in illegal activities such as dealing drugs.

Services include health and nutrition, educational assistance, effective parenting sessions, livelihood and skills training, residential care, foster and adoption. CWC maintains that as long as there are not enough jobs being made available, children will continue to live on the street.

But De Guzman from the mayor’s office partly disagrees that poverty breeds begging and street dwelling. It could also be about choice, he adds.

“Sometimes, it’s not all about how much the government and other people have provided you, it’s also about how much you are willing to give to change your life.”

He recounts incidents where parents sit happily under a shade of tree to gamble or play cards while their children are out in the heat, begging. There are also a number of cases when parents are the ones pushing and teaching their kids to beg.

Just last week, the Manila City Council has passed a local law penalizing parents and guardians of children who were forced to beg or work in the streets.

“We never run out of options. All we need to do is think which one is better,” De Guzman says as he tries to tell parents to be responsible of their children’s welfare. (Philippine Human Rights Reporting Project / Claire Delfin, the author is a television news reporter of GMA Network, Inc. and a regular contributor of special reports on women, children, health, education, and the environment to the network's news and public affairs website, GMANews.TV.)

Photo: Davao Shanties

A giant billboard stands obtrusively against the shanties along the riverbank of Davao River in Davao City in this photo taken September 18, 2008 in the southern Philippines. About one-third of Filipinos live below the poverty line and worsened by 17-year high rising inflation in August. The National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) reported in its latest poverty survey released last May that the number of "poor" Filipinos grew from 23.8 million in 2003 to 27.6 million in 2006. (AKP Images / Keith Bacongco)

Huge Debts Drives Man To Kill Self In Southern Philippines

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / July 26, 2008) – A Filipino man despondent over his huge financial debts climbed up a tall billboard sign in Davao City and then leaped to his death, police said.

Police identified the man as Ricky Villar, a native of Compostela Valley, who arrived in Davao City for a still unknown reason. He committed suicide on Friday.

A long list of names whom the man owed money was found by police investigators from his wallet, including two hundred pesos. Police gave no other details about the man, except, that he had was believed to be heavily indebted.

Poverty in the Philippines is widespread and many Filipinos blamed poor governance and President Gloria Arroyo, who is extremely unpopular, for high prices of basic commodities and oil.

A United Nations report published recently by The Manila Times said social and economic development in the Philippines remains uneven and poverty continues to be characterized by widespread disparities across regions and population groups.

The report said compared with other East Asian and Southeast Asian neighbors, poverty reduction in the Philippines has lagged far behind that of Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China which started with higher levels of poverty incidence than the country, but have successfully managed to lessen, if not virtually eliminate, extreme poverty.

According to the report, there were 27.6 million poor Filipinos in 2006, a 3.8-million increase from the 2003 data. Government statistics showed that the country’s population stood at 86 million as of 2007.

The highest poverty incidences, estimated at four times that of Metro Manila and accounting for one-third of the country’s total poor, are found in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Min¬danao (ARMM), Bicol, Eastern Visayas and Western Mindanao.

“Poverty continues to be a rural phenomenon,” the UN report said. It added that two out of every three Filipinos live in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture. “Poverty incidence among agricultural communities is roughly three times that of the rest of the population and the sector accounts for 60 percent of total poverty.”

Because of rural poverty, migration to urban areas has made the Philippines the fastest urbanizing country in Southeast Asia, with 55 million of its 86-million population, or 64 percent, living in urban areas. Thirty percent of the 64 percent live in slums.

As rural poverty incidence remains higher in absolute terms, the UN report said, urban poverty incidence increased from 17.9 percent in 1997 to 24.9 percent in 2003. Rural poverty incidence declined from 44.4 percent to 35.3 percent during the same period. (Romy Bwaga)

Photo: Faces of Hunger In Southern Philippines

Poor Filipinos line up for free food in the southern Philippine city of Cotabato in Maguindanao province. (Mindanao Examiner Photo / Mark Navales)

2006 Official Poverty Statistics In Philippines: Worse Than It Looks

Poverty in the Philippines has become so prevalent that it can no longer be hidden, only downplayed through the statistical manipulation that has become an Arroyo hallmark.

With the recent release of 2006 poverty statistics, the Arroyo administration was finally forced to admit that its much-hyped “28 quarters of continuous growth” has failed to benefit the ordinary Filipino.

According to the official figures by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), some 32.9% of the population, or 27.6 million Filipinos are poor. This was a reversal of the trend experienced in 2003, when the poverty incidence fell to 30% from 33% in 2000. It should also be noted that there were actually more Filipinos in 2006 than in 2000 (when some 25.5 million Filipinos were poor).

But despite the admission that poverty has risen despite high economic growth, the official poverty figures may actually be understated and obscure how widespread poverty is in the Philippines. This is because of the low poverty threshold the NSCB uses to estimate the extent of poverty.

For 2006, the NSCB pegged the per capita annual poverty threshold at P15,057, or P75,285 for a family of five members. The poverty threshold is defined as the minimum income/expenditure required for an individual to meet its basic food and non-food requirements. The poor are thus considered as those individuals or families whose incomes fall below the official poverty threshold and cannot afford to provide in a sustained manner for their minimum basic needs for food, health, education, housing and other social amenities of life.

The use of the term minimum basic needs highlights the limitations of the government’s definition of poverty. The government considers only minimum survival standards to measure poverty, thus capturing only those who are desperately poor and cannot meet even their most basic needs. But those individuals and families who fail to meet decent living standards should also be considered poor.

For example, a family with one or two minimum wage earners whose incomes fail to meet their needs are also poor, even if their income is above government’s poverty line.In fact, the government’s own National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) accepts this reasoning.

Thus, the NWPC releases regular estimates of family living wages; such figures measure what is needed for a decent standard of living plus a 10% allowance of total expenses for savings or investments.

As of 2005 (to ensure compatibility with the 2006 poverty threshold since the next estimate was as of December 2006), a family of five needs P16,218 for decent living, or 258% of the P6,274 that the NSCB claims that a Filipino family needs to stay out of poverty in 2006.

If only the NWPC’s food and non-food expenses estimates are considered, then the poverty incidence is 42.5% of NWPC’s estimates.

Thus, it is clear that the actual extent of poverty in the country is grossly understated. In IBON’s January 2008 nationwide survey, 7 out of 10 Filipinos rated themselves as poor.Poverty Despite GrowthThe increased poverty incidence also raises the question of why the number of poor increased even as government figures showed increasing economic growth.

Gross domestic product (GDP) grew an average of 4.6% from 2001 to 2006, while gross national product (GNP) grew by 5.1% over the same period. From 2004 to 2006, when the poverty increase was recorded, GDP and GNP grew by 5.5% and 6.1%, respectively; this was substantially higher than the 3.7% and 4.1% recorded from 2001 to 2003.

The NSCB attributed the higher poverty incidence to the insufficient rise in personal incomes coupled with higher prices, thus making it difficult for poor Filipinos to meet their basic needs.

NSCB also admitted that the implementation of the reformed value-added tax (RVAT) increased prices.But what economic planners failed to point out was that government itself is responsible for low wages prevailing in the country.

Government actually uses the poverty threshold as the basis for setting the minimum wage-- thus, a low poverty line justifies low subsistence-level wages as part of government’s foreign income-driven development strategy.

Despite this, the NSCB still said that a worker in the National Capital Region earning the minimum daily wage of P362 (or P9,412 a month) can support a family of five based on a monthly poverty threshold of P8,569.Also contributing to the rise in poverty figures was record-high unemployment rates. From 2001 to 2006 the country suffered from an average of 11.3% unemployment and 18.5% underemployment, the worst such six-year period recorded in the country’s history.

If jobs were created during the period, these were mostly poor quality, low-paying jobs. According to the NSO Labor Force Survey, from 2001 to 2006 the most number of jobs created were in agriculture, wholesale and retail trade, and private households with employed persons. These were among the lowest paying and most insecure jobs in the country.

Thus, majority of Filipinos did not enjoy the benefits of growth. And what growth there was did not result in an improvement in income inequality. According to the 2006 Family Income and Expenditures Survey (FIES), which is used to compute poverty, the richest 20% of families (accounting for some 3.5 million families) account for 52.8% of total family income.

Further, the income of the richest 10% was nineteen times that of the poorest 10 percent.Not surprising It should not really be surprising that the numbers of poor Filipinos increased.

Agriculture and manufacturing, which should experience growth in order to generate jobs and contribute to overall national development, continue to experience moribund growth. In fact, the number of new manufacturing jobs from 2001 to 2006 was just 153,000 and the sector even lost 18,000 jobs in 2006.

Sectors driven by speculation and with uncertain contributions to real development, on the other hand, were the ones that drove the increased GDP growth.What is surprising is how the Arroyo administration finally owned up to this growing problem. But then again, poverty in the Philippines has become so prevalent that it can no longer be hidden, only downplayed through the statistical manipulation that has become an Arroyo hallmark.

In typical fashion, Malacañang spokespersons brushed aside the poverty figures, simply saying that with the additional money from collections of the RVAT would be used as “payback” for the poor and that poverty would undoubtedly decrease again by 2009 when the next FIES would be conducted. But sans any resolute change in fundamental economic policies, the poverty problem in the Philippines can only get worse. (Joseph Yu)

Girl Who Killed Self Is Buried in South RP

DAVAO CITY, Philippines (Mindanao Examiner / Nov. 10, 2007) – A poor girl who committed suicide because of extreme poverty in southern Philippines was buried Saturday.

Mariennet Amper, 12, hanged herself Nov. 2 inside their thatched house in the village of Maa in Davao City. Hundreds of people, many of them moved by the girl's tragic end, came to pay their last respect. They cried as the girl's white coffin was buried.

Television network GMA-7 also aired a special on Saturday as a tribute to the girl, who had written a letter asking the TV program "Wish Ko Lang" (I Just Wish) for a pair of school shoes and bicycle for her younger brother and goats for her unemployed parents - her father, Isabelo, a former construction worker and mother, Magdalena.

The letter was written two years ago and was never mailed for lack of money to buy a postage stamp. GMA-7 has given the family a mini-van, a dozen goats and a bicycle just as what the girl wished for.

"All her classmates are present and they cried also. We cried, but could do nothing else now," the girl's father said.

Manila said the girl's suicide was an isolated incident.

"A child committing suicide because of hunger and poverty may be an isolated case, but Filipino families experiencing extreme hunger and poverty are definitely prevalent."

"We have already seen and heard news of adults committing suicide in desperation borne out of poverty by jumping from billboards or hanging themselves," Alphonse Rivera, head of the child rights organization, Salinlahi Alliance for Children's Concerns, said in a statement sent to the Mindanao Examiner.

Rivera said the effects of poverty have been evident even during the time of previous administration, but had worsened during the Arroyo government. "Since 2005, surveys indicated rising statistics on the incidence of hunger among Filipinos yet, no decisive move to alleviate economic conditions has been done by the government," he said.

President Gloria Arroyo this week has ordered the released of P1 billion to further accelerate the government's hunger-mitigation and anti-poverty program.

But Rivera said funding was "too little, too late." "Economic policies must be reviewed to enable the people to live a decent life. Increase wages, nationalize the oil industry, genuine land reform for the farmers – these are what the people are calling for but has remained unheeded," he said.

Rivera also cited a recent study by the International Food Policy Research Institute that 11 million Filipinos live on less than $1 (P42) a day experienced hunger. "Many children have stopped schooling and are forced to work to help in the family's income. Yet after all their efforts, at the end of the day, they still go to bed hungry," he said. (Mindanao Examiner)

Organic Food Enough To Feed The World’s Hungry, Study Says

DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 04 Jul) - The global problem of food security and hunger could be resolved if only there is an international effort to prioritize its integration to government programs, study says.

During the International Conference on Organic Agriculture and Food Security in Rome last month, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), presented a paper, aptly called Organic Agriculture and Food Security, that showed the strong and weak points of organic agriculture and its analysis on how it can effectively solve the problem of hunger vis-à-vis the fact that organic agriculture is not only being commercially practiced by developing countries like the Philippines, but also by at least 120 other countries, targeting the United States as a primary market.

In 2006, organic agriculture-based food products reaching the lucrative US market amounted to more than $40 billion. FAO underscored the organic agriculture, following certain models, can very well secure the problem of food scarcity.

An added value to this, of course, is the fact that organic agriculture is protective of the environment and the health of the people unlike the current mainstream and conventional agricultural practice.

According to FAO, the only thing that must be undertaken by policy makers—government officials and other concerned agencies—is to put organic agriculture on top of its policies and developmental priorities. It is important, FAO said, that government will allocate funds for organic agriculture as one of the ultimate forms of assistance that can be given as support for the growing industry.

Another important government action is to invest on the human resources which can be done by backing-up skills trainings in organic farming as part of the sustainable development strategies.

On the same conference, a group of researchers from Denmark also aired their belief that organic agriculture can help solve the global problem of hunger and on the same breadth, save keep the safety of the environment and the health of the people against the destructive and deadly effects of agro-chemicals used in conventional farming.

Danish Research Center for Organic Food and Farming told the UN conference on Organic Agriculture and Food Security that while it is true that a large-scale change to organic farming could initially result in a slump of production to as much as 50 percent, the amount is too small compared to the loses if farms would continue to rely on highly chemical-dependent crops.

Using the sub-Saharan Africa as an example, the Danish researchers said that the food security of the region would not be seriously affected if half of the agricultural lands of the food exporting regions of Europe and North America will be devoted to organic agriculture by 2020.

An article written by Nicole Winfield of the Associated Press states that while food production is expected to drop, the amount for every crop would be much smaller compared to the previous assumed amount and the “resulting rise in world food prices could be mitigated by improvements in the land and other benefits, the study found.”

"A similar conversion to organic farming in sub-Saharan Africa could help the region's hungry because it could reduce their need to import food… Farmers who go back to traditional agricultural methods would not have to spend money on expensive chemicals and would grow more diverse and sustainable crops, the report said.

In addition, if their food is certified as organic, farmers could export any surpluses at premium prices,” Winfield also quoted Niels Halberg, the senior scientist of the Danish Research Center for Organic Food and Farming as telling the UN conference.

Winfield also reported that the report of the Danish team has impressed the UN officials particularly Alexander Mueller, assistant director-general of the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, who recognized the benefits of shifting to organic farming considering the looming effects of climate change worldwide.

According to the United Nations, organic agriculture is a holistic food system that veers away from the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, minimizes pollution and optimizes the health of plants, animals and people. (Jeff Tupaz)

Preda Workers Rescue Filipino Boy

MANILA - Bengie is a 14 year old, picked up by police on the streets of Manila accused for stealing food from a vendor's stall and held for weeks in local police station mixed in with thieves, accused rapists and even child abusers.

The Preda social workers found Bengie and negotiated his release and transfer to the Preda Boys Home under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice and Welfare Law (RA 9344) enacted in 2006. Unless the social workers go look in every police station and neighborhood substation the children will not be helped by the law.

Much has to be done to educate the police and change the practice. Strong voices in the Philippines and around the world are calling on President Gloria Macapagal - Arroyo to issue an order to change the practice and order the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) to take custody of the children as soon as they are arrested.

Since the RA 9344 law was passed there is a small improvement and some children are referred to the home by passing the jail. But much needs to be done and it will take at least two years for the law to be disseminated and implemented. Children are held now in police stations' cells while charges are brought before a prosecutor and then to a judge. This can take weeks or months before the court orders them to be turned over to the Preda Home or the DSWD.

The children have not been charged or judged guilty while in the police cells and if 15 years and below they are not even criminally liable and if above that age it has to be proved that they acted with discernment. Yet they are still jailed in unhealthy, dangerous and frightening cells with adults. But the police and the Department of Social Welfare and Development will not take custody of the child unless there is court decision passing jurisdiction to them or to the central child prison.

There are many more kids like Bengie in the Philippines and in many developing countries where the police are less educated, don't understand the law or fail to implement it due to the lack of supervision and accountability.

Jailing of children is routine despite the fact that is forbidden by Philippine laws such as the Special Child Protection Act [RA 7610 Article VI(10)(a)], the Presidential Decree 603 and R.A. 9344.

The abusive practice, detrimental and dangerous to the child is forbidden by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [Article10(2)(b)], and the Convention on the Rights of the Child [Article 37(c)].

Charities and non-government agencies like the Preda Foundation are working around the clock to visit police stations, locate child prisoners and get their release by citing the legal provisions that allow the child be brought to a children's home. It is now full, a measure of success, and a new one is needed.

Last January, a delegation from the Justice Parish of Graystones in County Dublin, Ireland came to visit the Preda centres and prepare the way for the visit of twenty young people to the PREDA children's home three hours north of Manila overlooking Subic Bay.

Led by charismatic Father Dave Halpin and four parish representatives visited the central prison for children, named CRADLE and found 120 youth and child prisoners there behind bars. The youngest there is eight years old.

The justice parish of Graystones is supporting several projects in the developing world and are fund raising to help build a new home for the kids rescued from jails. This May there is a unique fund raising activity called "hard labor".

Hundreds of parishioners have signed up to break stones like child laborers for half an hour each throughout a 24-hour period and donate what they get from sponsors. With the stones they will make a "pathway to freedom", it will cross the parish lawn to a stature of a small boy holding up the broken handcuffs.

It was carved in the Philippines based on a real boy saved from prison by Preda. There are many like Bengie still waiting to be helped and released and if breaking stones will give them a new home then let's break stones (Fr Shay Cullen)

Poor Pinoy, Still Suffering From Poverty!

Muslim refugees in Mindanao island in southern Philippines continue to suffer because of sporadic clashes between security and rebel forces. Non-government organizations have appealed for food and medicines for refugees now in temporary shelters in the Muslim autonomous region. (Mindanao Examiner Photo/Mark Navales)

MAGUINDANAO (Mindanao Examiner / 28 Mar) – Despite government promises of more jobs and secure future, many Filipinos are still living below the poverty line and a survey by the independent Social Weather Stations (SWS) has proven this.

The SWS said fifty-three percent of household heads rated their families as poor in the First Quarter 2007 survey. Self-Rated Poverty declined by 15 points in Metro Manila, from 54% last November to 39% in February.

The 54% was above the long-term average in the capital region, while the 39% is more or less average, it said.

On the other hand, Self-Rated Poverty rose in Luzon outside Metro Manila, from 48% to 53%, in the Visayas, from 55% to 59%, and in Mindanao, from 54% to 57%.The net result was that Self-Rated Poverty stayed virtually unchanged at the national level, being 52% last November and 53% in February.

The Self-Rated Poverty Threshold, which is the monthly budget that poor households need in order not to consider themselves poor, has been sluggish for several years despite considerable inflation, indicating that poor families have been lowering their living standards.

The Median Self-Rated Poverty threshold of poor families declined in Metro Manila, from P12,000 last November to P10,000 in February - an amount that had already been reached in surveys as early as ten years ago.

The current median thresholds -- P6,000 in both Balance Luzon and the Visayas, and P5,000 in Mindanao -- had already been recorded as early as 8 years ago, even though the cost of living has risen very greatly since then.When referring specifically to the food they eat, 39% of Filipino families consider themselves as poor and twenty-six percent put themselves on the Food-Borderline, and 35% consider themselves as Not Food-Poor.

At the national level, Self-Rated Food Poverty hardly moved from 40% last November to 39% last month. It declined by 14 points in Metro Manila, from 45% to 31%, but went up by five points in Mindanao, from 41% to 46%.Self-Rated Food Poverty barely changed in the rest of Luzon, from 37% to 38%, and in the Visayas, from 42% to 40%.

Household heads' reports about their own poverty in general, their own food-poverty, and their own hunger are internally consistent.The February survey has hunger at 26% among the Self-Rated Poor.

This is double the 13% among the Not Poor, and 9% among those on the Borderline.Among the Self-Rated Food Poor, the proportion of households experiencing hunger in the past three months is 30%, almost triple the 12% in both the Not Food-Poor and the Food-Borderline. As a concept, poverty allows for various degrees of deprivation.

Those who suffer from hunger are much more deprived than those who simply suffer from poverty.SWS said the latest report on Hunger was released on March 19.

Opposition politicians and militant party list groups also criticized the Arroyo government for its failure to uplift the living standards of the Filipinos.

Malacañang said the administration’s "well-planned, focused strategic and immediate programs" and not the opposition’s "political noise and hot air" would feed the Filipinos.

"This administration serves a plate of concrete solutions backed up by hard work while the opposition continues to serve a plate of innuendo backed by empty promises," Presidential Spokesperson Ignacio Bunye said.

Bunye was reacting to the opposition’s criticism on the administration’s programs to mitigate hunger and fight poverty and the accusation that President Gloria Arroyo was electioneering when she ordered the release of the P1-billion anti-hunger fund.

He said there are two points on the issue on hunger and poverty: transparency in the Arroyo administration’s implementation of vital social programs, and the opposition’s alternative (anti-hunger and anti-poverty) program, if they have any.

Bunye stressed that the Arroyo administration employs "full transparency in the implementation of its vital social programs" even as he sought the active participation of the opposition in the implementation (of these programs), or better yet offer a better alternative.

"First, we have always offered full transparency in the implementation of vital social programs and the opposition is welcome not only to look into our anti-poverty and anti-hunger projects, but also to actively participate in them," he said.

"Second, we would like to ask if the opposition has a clear and specific anti-hunger and anti-poverty campaign that offers a better alternative to our own," he added.

Bunye lamented that the opposition refused to participate and has "only dished out the sweeping accusations and wild allegations."Arroyo has previously launched various pro-poor programs, from food terminals to cheap medicines in villages across the country.

But Editha Duterte, of the militant party list group Anakpawis in Southern Mindanao, said those programs will not help alleviate the poverty situation, especially in the southern region.“Thinking that hunger will be wiped out in just six months through school feeding program, food terminals, government rolling stores, and providing cheap medicines through ‘Botika sa Barangay’ is plain insanity.”

”Can’t the Palace give intelligent solutions to our poverty problems? Is this the best thing they can offer after telling us to cut down from our luxuries when we don’t even have enough money for our basic needs?,” she asked. (With a report from Mark Navales)

Photo: Kevin Carter...

Christmas In Mindanao

An unidentified scavenger stands dangerously close to a bulldozer at the edge of a mountain of rubbish 24 December 2006 in the government garbage depot in Lumbangan village, about 10 kms east of Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. Hundreds of scavengers, including women and children, some as young as three years old, dig for scraps in the village. They complain about the lack of livelihood opportunities for the poor and government support for their children's education. (Mindanao Examiner)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 25 Dec) – For many people in Mindanao, Christmas is just one ordinary day. They go hungry just the same, but despite the poverty situation in many parts of the island, south of the Philippines, Filipinos expected a happy Christmas.

According to the survey of the Social Weather Stations (SWS), three out of five or 62 percent of Filipinos expected a happy Christmas. Most Filipinos also say they are thankful that they are still alive and have good health. The survey was conducted last November 24 to 29 with 1,200 respondents.

But not all news is good. The SWS says expectations of a happy Christmas are down from a high of 82 percent in 2002 to 77 percent in 2003 to 64 percent in 2004 and 62 percent in 2005, the same as this year. The number of those anticipating a happy Christmas has been declining in all areas since 2002.

In Zamboanga City, many of the poor say they slept without food on the table on Christmas Eve. “We slept hungry and we woke up hungry also. Christmas is just an ordinary day. For people like us, who needs a celebration? We are worried on how we are going to survive this harsh life,” says the 38-year old Joel Quimpo, who lives near the government garbage depot in the village of Lumbangan.

The village, about 10 kilometers east of Zamboanga City, is dump for tons of garbage that could be anything from a harmless piece of rubber ducky to more toxic materials, such as computer and television parts and even bottles of poisonous pesticide and expired food products.

Quimpo says: “Many of us garbage diggers feel hopeless by this situation and there is no help either from the government or the politicians. It’s good that few people who have kind heart still come here once in a while and give us little help, but our children need education for them to have a good future.”

Hundreds of people, many women and children, brave the heat in search for scrap.The area is a paradise for many jobless people in the village, but it is equally as dangerous and unhealthy, and many scavengers are suffering from respiratory diseases.

Last Christmas Eve, many had waited for Santa Claus to arrive at the dump site, but there was no sign of him. It is Christmas again and another year will soon come to pass, but Santa did not show up for the children who waited for him to visit. That Santa was not the great gift-giver from North Pole, but local politicians the villagers call their own Santa Claus.

On Christmas Eve, the Sultan of Sulu Archipelago, Sharif Ibrahim Ajibul Muhammad Pulalun, came unannounced at the garbage depot and distributed rice and food. “We are just helping the poor here, whether they are Christians or Muslims,” the Sultan tells the Mindanao Examiner.

While many of Zamboanga’s poor say they are unhappy, the sane was the situation in the Muslim autonomous region. Many in the region’s five provinces complain about the lack of government projects and livelihood opportunities for Mindanao’s 4 million Muslims.

But Mindanao is also home to about 13 million Christians and most of them are also without jobs.

President Gloria Arroyo, in her Christmas message, promised more jobs to fight poverty. “This is our mission: to build prosperity for the greatest number of our people,” she says.

While many people in Mindanao suffer in poverty, in contrast, many Filipino and foreign holiday-makers in the central Filipino province of Cebu celebrated Christmas in lavish styles – partying in posh hotels and spend Christmas in beaches like Boracay Island and El Nido Lagen Island, the most luxurious resort in Palawan Island.

According to Press Secretary and Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye, with the economy on a roll, Filipinos have every reason to be upbeat not only this Christmas but in 2007.

Bunye says that the "markets have been surging to record highs, investments are up, the purchasing power of the pesos is steady and all indicators support a bullish 2007."

He says the Filipinos have witnessed the government's decisive action to "move the economy to bear social fruit in terms of better-paying jobs, enhanced social services and a reduced incidence of hunger and poverty."

"Good governance and the people's enterprise are making things happen in the Philippines," he says. (Mindanao Examiner)

So What Else Is New? Filipinos Remain Poor, Hungry Under Arroyo

MANILA (Mindanao Examiner / 21 Dec) - The Arroyo government said the Philippine economy is improving, jobs are many and poor families lesser since she became President in 2001.

Her political allies also say the same; they sing in unison and applause their own. But the latest reports of the independent Social Weather Survey speaks the truth.

Here is the Fourth Quarter 2006 Social Weather Survey: Hunger at new record-high 19.0% of families; 52% are Self-Rated Poor, 40% are Self-Rated Food-Poor!

The proportion of families experiencing involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months reached a new record-high of 19.0%, or an estimated 3.3 million households, according to the final 2006 Social Weather Survey, last November 24-29.

The previous record-high incidence of household hunger was 16.9%, reached in both March 2006 and September 2006. Hunger has now been at double-digits for the past eleven consecutive quarters, since June 2004.

The new SWS survey also found 52% families reporting themselves as Poor in general, and 40% reporting themselves as Poor in terms of Food.

Hunger increased especially in Metro Manila and the Balance of Luzon
Hunger rose by almost five points in Metro Manila, from 12.8% in September to 17.7% in November. It rose by three points in the rest of Luzon, from 14.7% in September 2006 to 17.7% in November.

Hunger rose by only one point in Mindanao, from 21.3% to 22.3%. It declined slightly in the Visayas, from 19.7% to 19.0%.

Moderate Hunger at record high 15.1%

Moderate Hunger, defined as households experiencing it involuntarily “Only Once” or “A Few Times” in the last three months, rose from 12.3% in the previous quarter to a new record-high 15.1%, surpassing the previous record of 12.9% in August 2005.

Severe Hunger, defined as households involuntarily hungry “Often” or “Always” in the last three months, declined somewhat, from 4.6% in September to 3.9% in November.

Moderate Hunger rose by over 4 points in Metro Manila (from 8.2% to 12.7%) and in the rest of Luzon (from 10.3% to 14.7%). It rose by less than 2 points in the Visayas (from 13.7% to 15.3%), and remained steady at 17.3% in Mindanao.

Severe Hunger went up in Metro Manila (from 4.6% to 5.0%), and in Mindanao (from 4.0% to 5.0%). However, it declined in the balance of Luzon (from 4.3% to 3.0%), and in the Visayas (from 6.0% to 3.7%).

Self-Rated Poverty

Overall Self-Rated Poverty hardly changed at the national level, being 51% in September and 52% in November [Chart 3]. It hardly changed in Mindanao (from 53% to 54%), and in Luzon outside Metro Manila (from 45% to 48%).

Self-Rated Poverty declined by 11 points in the Visayas, from 66% to 55%. On the other hand, it rose by 8 points in Metro Manila, from 46% to 54%.

Median Self-Rated Poverty thresholds

The Median Self-Rated Poverty threshold, or the median monthly budget in peso-terms that poor households say they need to escape poverty, rose in Metro Manila, from P10,000 in September to P12,000 in November.

It remained steady in Visayas, at P6,000, and in Mindanao, at P5,000
The Median Self-Rated Poverty threshold went down in the balance of Luzon, from P6,000 to P5,000.

Self-Rated Food Poverty

Forty percent of Filipino households consider themselves as Poor based on the type of food their family eats. Twenty-seventy percent put themselves on the Borderline, and 32% consider themselves as Not Food-Poor.

Self-Rated Food Poverty declined in the Visayas, from 55% in September to 42% in November, and in Luzon outside Metro Manila, from 40% to 37% [Chart 7]. It barely changed in Mindanao (from 40% to 41%).

However, it rose by 7 points in Metro Manila, from 38% in September to 45% in November.

Self-Reported Poverty and Hunger are consistent

Long survey experience shows that household heads’ reports about poverty in general, poverty in terms of food, and hunger are internally consistent.

In the November 2006 survey, the proportion of households experiencing hunger in the past three months is 30% among the Self-Rated Food-Poor, compared to only 13% among the Not Food-Poor,and 10% among those on the Food-Borderline.

The said survey has hunger at 25% among the Self-Rated Poor, compared to only 13% among the Not Poor, and 12% among those on the Borderline.

As a concept, poverty allows for various degrees of deprivation. A rise in hunger while poverty is flat, over a period of time, implies a worsening of deprivation among families at the lower end of the poverty spectrum.

Survey Background

The SWS survey questions about household poverty and hunger are directed to the household head. They are standard non-commissioned items in the Social Weather Surveys. By using the phrase “nakaranas ng gutom at wala kayong makain” or “experienced hunger without anything to eat,” the hunger item specifically refers to involuntary suffering.

The Social Weather Surveys referred to in this release used face-to-face interviews of a national sample of 1,200 statistically representative household heads (300 each in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao), from 240 geographical spots selected from all regions. Error margins of ±3% for national percentages and ±6% for regional percentages should be applied.

The area estimates were weighted by the National Statistics Office’s medium-projections for 2006 to obtain the national estimates. (SWS)

Islamic School In Zamboanga Needs Help

Click photo below to play video

Two children walk past the historic Talusangay Mosque, built in 1885, in Zamboanga City in the southern Philippines. (Mindanao Examiner)

ZAMBOANGA CITY (Mindanao Examiner / 18 Dec) – While politicians in the southern Filipino port city of Zamboanga brag about a robust economy and more development projects than ever, many Muslim enclaves here still remain poor compare to Christian areas where much of government projects are diverted.

“Where is equality?” many Muslim villagers ask.

“Many of our children are uneducated because we don’t have enough schools. There is no opportunity for us to live a descent life. We are discriminated and have no government support,” one Muslim man tells the Mindanao Examiner.

In the Muslim village of Taluksangay, about 30 kms east of Zamboanga, male and female students crowd four small rooms at the Ma’had Da’wa Al Islamie School. “We have no enough rooms. This is taboo. We cannot be together with the boys, but there is nothing we can do,” a female student says.

Their school rooms are dilapidated. They have no library, not even a computer set for each room, not even a wall clock.

Villagers live a naïve life in the Taluksangay, site of one of the oldest mosque in the Philippines, but many Muslims say they are hungry and there is not enough food for everyone in the family. Worse, there is no opportunity for a descent job, they say.

“As you can see, we live a simple life here. We sell corn and vegetables and fish and we pray a lot that help would someday come to us and education for our children,” one Muslim woman, Amina, tells the Mindanao Examiner. “Life is hard, real hard for Muslims in Zamboanga, she says. (Mindanao Examiner)