Press Release
March 7, 2008

Villar says rise of Filipinos living in poverty to 27.6M "obscene"

Senate President Manny Villar today described the rise in the number of poor families as "obscene" in the light of corruption allegations involving billions of pesos the Arroyo administration has gotten itself tangled into.

Villar said the surge of the number of Filipinos living in poverty as indicated by the Family Income and Expenditure Survey - by 3.8 million, or to 27.6 million in just three years - is an indictment of the government's failure "to promote growth with equity."

"It also shatters the illusion that Filipinos are enjoying the fruits of the reported economic growth and puts inquestion Malacanang's economic management credentials, " he said.

He said survey findings showing that 12.2 million Filipinos are too poor to buy enough food "have refuted government TV ads saying ordinary folks feel the economic growth."

"Kung paniniwalaan natin ang survey, mukhang ramdam na ramdam nila hindi ang pag-unlad kundi ang pagkagutom," he said

Villar said "the usual mechanisms to redistribute wealth, such as the budget, which allocates tax collection, and transforms these into programs that will benefit the poor , may have failed ."

For growth to trickle down, Villar said government should start putting "more resources and less rhetoric" into education, agriculture, infrastructure and health.

"More funds into these would mean less out-of-pocket expenses for medicines and schooling, for example," he said.

But this will not be achieved "if debt and not development" will have the "first crack on whatever fiscal surplus we have, " he said, noting that "28 centavos for every budget peso this year will go to debt service. " .

"Our people will always be left out and left behind in the growth of the economy if profits captured as taxes will not be used to improve both their lot and their chances for decent living, " he said.

Villar said government will also be able to stretch its "budget peso" if money will be well spent and corruption will not be allowed to rear its ugly head.

"If it were not aborted, the alleged kickback in the ZTE deal of about $150 million, or about P6.1 billion, can provide six months worth of rice to about 5.8 million poor Filipinos," he said.

Villar ruled out reasons put forward by government officials that typhoons caused the surge in the number of poor families.

"But window-dressing or not, this remains clear: 3,470 Filipinos cross into the poverty line every day and the same number crosses the ocean to escape that fate , " he said.

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