Winning the war against hunger and poverty

By JAZMIN BONIFACIO
May 2, 2007

TACLOBAN CITY, Leyte  –  Millions of Filipinos still go hungry despite recent government claims of economic gains. A recent survey by the National Nutrition Council here in the region revealed that hunger incidence in the Philippines has increased to 16.9% reflected a similar situation in the region and all over the Visayas area. And said increased indicates a consistent increase in the prevalence of hunger incidence of not being able to eat in a day.

Records of the Operation Timbang here showed that for 0-5yrs old children it was seen here in the region, the provinces of Samar, Northern Samar, and Leyte scored high in the incidence of underweight children. OPT records showed that Northern Samar has 29.85% underweight children. Samar came out next at 29.78% then Leyte at 19.89%. Eastern Samar came in fourth at 19.29 followed by Biliran at 17.86% and Southern Leyte with the least incidence of underweight children at 10.86%.

At the city level Calbayog indicated at 16.75%. Ormoc came in third at 18.09% and Maasin City, awarded as one of the most child-friendly municipalities during the recent National Nutrition Awards, showed a 7.85% incidence of underweight children.

And for the total number of malnourished children, records of OPT for 2005 show that Northern Samar have a total of 22,514; Samar have 21,366; Leyte have 37,518; Eastern Samar have 11,633; Biliran have 4,128 and Southern Leyte have 4,840.

It was learned that among the cities here in the region, Ormoc has the most number of malnourished children numbering to 5,028. Calbayog City came next with a total of 4,335 followed by Tacloban city with 3,875 and Maasin with only 904.

The Philippine government may seem serious in investing in a Strong Republic that eventually crushes terrorism in our country even at the expense of social services.

Records showed that the proposed national budget since for 2003 amounting to P804-billion earmarked P37.8 billion for the Armed Forces. P5 Billion of the military outlay will go to the AFP's modernization program. P55-million intelligence fund will go to the Office of the President. It also increases the proposed budget of the Dept. of National Defense by P3.7 billion from P38.8 billion to P42.5 billion. On the other hand, the PNP will receive bulk of the P2.2 billion hike in the budget of the Dept. of Interior and Local Government.

While military spending and debt servicing will have the bulk of the national budget, the remaining fund will be shared by other government agencies. At least 70 state colleges and universities will be affected by big budget cuts amounting to P232.72 million. Budget restrictions prompted state colleges and universities to increase tuition and implement other commercialization schemes. Merging of state colleges and universities is carried out as part of cost-cutting measures.

The Dept. of Education gets P1Billion more. However, Dept. of Education maintenance and other operating expenses were cut. A measly P2billion will be allotted to school buildings. This runs counter to Art. 14 Section 5 of the 1987 Constitution requiring the government to give the highest budgetary allocation to education.

Meanwhile, only P1.7 Billion will be spent for housing. According to Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) that amount will give P8 for every poor Filipino while 25 million Filipinos do not have decent housing. Health Alliance for Democracy (HEAD) disclosed that public health fund has now been slashed by 25%. And now, the government spends 60 centavos for the health of every Filipino. This P16 billion budget was cut from Heart Center, Chilren's Medical Center, Lung Center and National Kidney institute, while the AFP Medical Center and the Veterans Hospital will receive an additional P26 million.

Indeed, this is how the Macapagal-Arroyo government builds a Strong Republic-crushing the Filipino people's most urgent demands.

Region 8 alone has more people with inadequate nutrition, more living in slum conditions and more without access to water and sanitation. Rural flight leads to another region wide phenomenon linked to poverty, unchecked urbanization. Statistically, migrants out earn their brethren in the fields. But first they must enter an urban milieu that can be openly hostile.

Dozens of illegal slums serving as monuments to misery, neighborhoods with barnyard animals and mucky kids in the streets were no longer the homes of a thrifty working class, but embarrassing eyesores. City hall has repeatedly ordered the squatters out. For this reason, efforts to tackle the issue are now taking on a greater urgency. The city government of Tacloban stand or fall based on their ability to deliver growth at the grass roots-and that's just where the problem is.

Just recently, members of the Volunteer for the Visayans made an effort again to help and win war against hunger and poverty in the city. Ethel Mae Arce, Associate Director of Volunteer for the Visayas said in an interview that they are now focusing on the implementation of their programs to reduce the incidence of hunger and their daily feeding programs towards street children, giving them education and a sustainable livelihood programs to the parents.

Volunteer for the Visayas generated more or less Fifty thousand pesos from their donors and sponsors for these project. Dubbed `Piktaw, Pidal para han kabubuwason han kabataan' is a walk for a cause project for the street children of Volunteer for the Visayas here in the city in collaboration with the City Social Welfare, the Region and Tacloban City Police, and other Non-government organizations supportive to its cause. Its primary aims according to Arce, is to save the lives of these children in the streets. She stressed that `we are engaged in a combination of measures to fight hunger and poverty, working with local governments to identify and serve families at the hunger threshold, and extending livelihood assistance towards the poor family and the children. And in order to address the problem of malnutrition among children here in the city and other towns, Arce said that their office is implementing a daily feeding program which provides a daily ration of food to children under their custody.

Volunteer for the Visayans is a non profit, established non government organization that focuses on community development and international education. Their international volunteers immerse themselves in a culture foreign to their own, while educating the local community about the western world. Volunteer for the Visayans according to Arce is dedicated to raising funds for local projects. Currently, the group is now focusing on working with the City Social Welfare Office here and helping to support a new facility under construction which will be used to house the street children. They collect donations and basic necessities such as used clothing, to be distributed to these children, collects also educational resources to distribute to rural schools where basic books and school supplies are not available.