Arroyo says she skips meals, too -- March 23, 2007

By JAY R. GOTERA

The Saudi Gazette

MANILA

PRESIDENT Gloria Arroyo disputed the basis of a recent survey on hunger and poverty in the Philippines, saying that skipping some meals does not mean one is poor.

In a televised discussion on the economy at Malacañang with her top aides, Arroyo said she herself skips meals. “The question (in the survey was) if you missed one meal during the last three months. Even I missed one meal in the last three months, but…” Arroyo said without finishing her statement.

However, it was obvious that she skipped meals not because she lacked money to buy food, the primary reason for hunger as cited in the survey.

Arroyo did not say what the circumstances were or how she came to miss her meals, whether it was due to some diet program or a hectic schedule.

She was reacting to a recent Social Weather Stations (SWS) nationwide survey showing that hunger in the Philippines remained at a record high 19 percent, with an estimated 3.4 million households saying they experienced hunger at least once in the past three months.

She said some of the questions in the SWS survey might have been misinterpreted by the respondents since it was simply about missing meals, which anybody, rich or poor, could have experienced.

Arroyo said her government’s anti-hunger program aims to address both the supply and demand of food as she vowed to reduce hunger incidence in the Philippines in six months.

On the supply side, she said her government is implementing measures to increase food supply from the agricultural sector, make food production more efficient, and bring the food faster and cheaper to consumers.

This is being done, she said, by constructing more farm-to-market roads, bridges, irrigation systems, ports, roll-on and roll-off facilities and food processing centers as well as reducing the involvement of middlemen.

She said because of the projects in Northern Luzon, the prices of vegetables have gone down by as much as P20 a kilo.

On the demand side, the government is trying to increase the income of poor families through livelihood projects and increasing job opportunities through skills training and scholarships.

Arroyo also called on Filipinos to spend less on vices and more on basic necessities and urged families to practice responsible parenthood.

Opposition senatorial candidates laughed off the deadline set by Arroyo to reduce hunger incidence.

Genuine Opposition (GO) candidates Senate President Manuel Villar Jr. and former senator Loren Legarda said it would be a “big lie” for Arroyo to achieve her desired results within six months.

“The problem is a serious concern. You may be able to feed a family for one or two days but you won’t be able to feed them their entire lives. One cannot address the hunger problem in this country in six months. That is a big lie,” Villar said.

He said the problem is not Filipinos going literally hungry but their economic plight of living below the poverty line.

“If you say hunger, it simply means skipping one’s meals to save for other needs,” Villar said.

Villar said the government should focus on how to address poverty by providing a long-term solution to the problem.

For her part, Legarda stressed the need for the government and the private sector to work together in generating employment opportunities to put more food on the tables of indigent families.

Re-electionist Sen. Panfilo Lacson said the government should stop applying superficial solutions to the problem. He described the six-month time frame by Arroyo as “not realistic.”

“If she’s really bent on solving the hunger problem within six months, stop committing graft,” Lacson said.

Meanwhile, in another SWS survey, 53 percent of Filipino families rated themselves as poor.

The survey, conducted from Feb. 24 to 27, showed that self-rated poverty numbers rose in all areas but fell in Metro Manila.

“Self-rated poverty declined by 15 points in Metro Manila, from 54 percent last November to 39 percent this February,” the SWS said.

Self-rated poverty, however, rose in Luzon (outside Metro Manila) from 48 percent to 53 percent. In the Visayas, it also went up from 55 percent to 59 percent, and in Mindanao, from 54 percent to 57 percent.

The self-rated poverty threshold, which is the monthly budget that poor households need in order not to consider themselves poor, has been moving slowly for several years now despite considerable inflation, SWS said.

This indicates that poor families have been lowering their living standards, the SWS said.