MANILA (UCAN/Agencies): “Ensuring affordable rice for all Filipinos is crucial for alleviating poverty and enhancing food security,” Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo said on July 22, just before the president, Ferdinand Marcos Jr. delivered his third State of the Nation Address [SONA]. The president of Caritas Philippines reminded Marcos Jr. to fulfill his 2022 campaign promise to reduce the price of rice to 20 pesos [$0.34] a kilogramme.
Bishop Bagaforo urged Marcos Jr. to present clear steps on “how this goal will be achieved and how agricultural reforms will support our farmers,” adding that rising poverty, hunger, violence, and climate change needed attentoion.
Marcos Jr. opened his hour and 22 minute-long SONA at the Batasang Pambansa Complex touting plans to galvanise the agricultural sector, starting with the provision of more seeds, fertilisers, livestock, boats and technical and financial assistance to farmers and fisherfolk.
He said: “The hard lesson of this last year has made it very clear that whatever current data proudly bannering our country as among the best-performing in Asia, means nothing to a Filipino, who is confronted by the price of rice at 45 pesos to 65 pesos per kilo.”
He also listed measures to reduce food prices and ultimately tame inflation, which, according to a recent Pulse Asia survey, at least 74 per cent of Filipinos said the government is failing to do.
[Disguised] as legitimate entities, their [PGOs] operations have ventured into illicit areas furthest from gaming, such as financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, even murder Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
Blaming “illegal price manipulations and smuggling,” Marcos said the government has temporarily set price ceilings on rice and reduced tariffs on rice, corn, and pork until the end of the year and assured the sector these were only “short-term solutions,” PhilStar reported.
“Our poverty rate has significantly dropped to 15.5 per cent, down from 18 per cent in 2021. This present figure is even lower than the pre-pandemic level of 16.7 percent in 2018,” the Inquirer reported Marcos as saying,
However, numbers from the state-run Philippine Statistics Authority, released on July 22, actually show that the poverty rate in 2021 was 13.2 per cent and stood at 10.9 per cent in 2023.
As we celebrate the 500 years of Christianity in the Philippines. The Chaplaincy to Filipino Migrants organises an on-line talk every Tuesday at 9.00pm. You can join us at:
https://www.Facebook.com/CFM-Gifted-to-give-101039001847033
Expressed gratitude to Overseas Filipino Workers for their remittances and their impact on the economy, Marcos Jr. said his government has provided “special facilities and services” for them including the OFW lounge at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the Seafarer’s Hub in Manila.
He also announced a ban on POGOs [Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators—online gambling firms operating but catering to customers outside the country].
“[Disguised] as legitimate entities, their operations have ventured into illicit areas furthest from gaming, such as financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, even murder,” Marcos Jr. said, adding, “The disorder that it caused our society as well as the desecration of our country must stop.”
Ensuring affordable rice for all Filipinos is crucial for alleviating poverty and enhancing food security
Bishop Bagaforo
Meanwhile, members of the Centre of United and Progressive Workers took to the streets in the capital, Manila, ahead of the SONA calling for a legislated 150 pesos [US$2.57] daily wage increase for the nation’s industry workforce.
“It is heartbreaking that millions of families cannot keep up with the rising costs for even the most basic needs, with food inflation rising from 5.8 per cent to 6.1 per cent from May to June 2024. Such spikes in costs necessitate a wage increase,” the workers’ union said in a statement on July 22.
Clarice Place, secretary-general of women’s political party Gabriela, said: “Marcos Jr. paints a rosy picture of the Philippines with its Bagong Pilipinas [New Philippines] rebranding, but the reality is women are suffering even more from worsening poverty, hunger, and violence.
Aaron Pedrosa, a lawyer and secretary-general of Sanlakas sectoral group, anticipated more taxes, more borrowings, and concessions to lenders through policy reforms such as increasing foreign equity, as the country’s debt balloons to record highs.
Climate campaigner, Jefferson Chua, of Greenpeace Philippines said action on climate justice was “conspicuously absent” from Marcos Jr.’s SONA. according to LiCAS News.
“We know that climate impacts are already devastating agriculture, people’s livelihoods and jobs, education and health… The next step is for [Marcos Jr.] to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the destruction caused by climate impacts,” he said.
Jonila Castro, advocacy officer for the Kalikasan People’s Network for the Environment, accused Marcos Jr. of pretending to be a “climate champion” while prioritising “corporate profits over genuine climate action and sustainability” LiCAS News reported.
Castro decried the approval of more than 100 mining projects under the Marcos Jr. administration, adding that these projects are devastating remaining forest cover and exacerbate severe flooding.
Renato Reyes Jr., president of the progressive group, Bayan, said that “no amount of singing and recitation of ‘Bagong Pilipinas’ will hide the worsening crisis of Philippine society.”
Reyes concluded, “The true state of the nation is one of debilitating economic crisis, rising fascism, surrender of sovereignty, lack of accountability, and endless infighting among the ruling elite.”
