Every other Pinoy family considers itself poor, says SWS

FIFTY-THREE percent of Filipino families consider themselves poor while a little less than 50 percent believe they are food-poor, the Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey from Sept. 18-21 showed.

These figures were taken before tropical storm "Ondoy" flooded Metro Manila, Central Luzon, and Southern Tagalog and typhoon "Pepeng" did the same to northern Luzon. Damage brought about by the two weather disturbances has reached P36 billion.

The survey polled 1,800 respondents and had an error margin range of plus/minus 2.3-6 percent.

SWS also found that 28 percent of Filipino families said they are on the borderline while only 20 percent claimed they are not poor.

The figure is 3 points higher than the 50 percent in June 2009. It has been at the 50 percent level since March 2008, except February 2009 when it was at 47 percent.

Similarly, the Self-Rated Food Poverty also rose to 41 percent from 39 percent in June. About 35 percent put themselves in the food-borderline while 24 percent said they are not food-poor.

Self-rated poverty dropped in Mindanao (62 percent to 57 percent), but it rose in Luzon (44 percent to 51 percent) and in the Visayas (56 percent to 60 percent). It barely changed in Metro Manila (42 percent to 41 percent).

Self-rated food poverty also declined in Mindanao (47 percent to 43 percent) but it went up in the Visayas (42 percent to 48 percent), in Metro Manila (32 percent to 35 percent), and in Luzon (35 percent to 38 percent).

SWS said poor families have been lowering their living standards or tightening their belts to cope with poverty, as shown by the sluggishness of the self-rated poverty threshold, or the monthly budget that families need in order not to consider themselves as poor.

As of September 2009, the threshold rose to P15,000 in Metro Manila and to P10,000 in Luzon, although these levels have already been reached in the past. It stayed at P5,000 in Mindanao while dipping in the Visayas from P8,000 to P5,000.

The food-poverty threshold also went up in Metro Manila from P5,000 to P6,500 and in Luzon from P3,000 to P5,000. It remained at P3,000 in Mindanao and dropped to P3,000 in the Visayas.

SWS said the P15,000 Metro Manila poverty threshold is equivalent to only P9,536 in base year 2000 purchasing power, after deflation by the Consumer Price Index. It said the deflated poverty threshold of below P10,000 per month is similar to living standards of over a decade ago.

The median food-poverty threshold of P6,500 in Metro Manila is equivalent to only P4,257 in base year 2000 purchasing power for food.

Sen. Loren Legarda criticized what she said was government’s "sugar-coated" statistics on poverty incidence.

"There is great disparity between the 53 percent of Filipinos who consider themselves poor in the latest Social Weather Station survey and the 32.9 percent of poor Filipinos as determined by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB)," she said.

Source: http://kakkampi.blogspot.com/2009/11/every-other-pinoy-family-considers.html

Group backs Legarda, Cayetano’s pro-environment stance Reiterates need to make 2010 budget ‘climate-sensitive’

HE policy research and advocacy group La Liga Policy Institute (La Liga) on Thursday backed the proposal of Senators Loren Legarda and Piya Cayetano to ‘recast’ the proposed P1.541-trillion budget for 2010 to make it more ‘climate-sensitive’ and responsive to the need to prepare for the adverse impacts of climate change.

Jonathan Ronquillo, La Liga’s Envi-Campaigner, reminded lawmakers that the Philippines will remain vulnerable to climate change because of its unique geographic location.

He noted that Senators Legarda and Cayetano’s proposals supports La Liga’s alternative budget proposal.

In its alternative budget proposal entitled “Financing Climate Change Actions: A Must for the 2010 Budget”, La Liga underscored the urgent need for the Philippines to shift to a climate-sensitive development path to better respond to threats of Climate Change.

La Liga urged Malacanang to use its P140-billion ‘savings’ in 2008 to strengthen its disaster response strategy, starting with funding the ongoing rehabilitation efforts in typhoon-affected areas that were ravaged by typhoons Ondoy, Pepeng and recently, Ramil.

The paper, copies of which were submitted by La Liga to members of the Philippine senate, noted the lack of over-all national framework for climate change, highlighting the need for harmonization to ensure maximum impact of the various mitigation and adaptation initiatives of the government and various stakeholders.

“The Philippines is composed of 7,100 island and islet and is situated along the typhoon belt, which makes us more prone to natural disasters. We need to strengthen our disaster response, first by financing climate-change mitigation and adaptation measures,” he said.

La Liga, which serves as the secretariat of the Environment Cluster of the Alternative Budget Initiative (ABI) insists on allocating an additional P11.4-billion for the environment and natural resources sector to better prepare the country to extreme weather effects such as drought and super typhoons.

The amount will cover specific climate change mitigation and adaptation measures to be implemented across the various government agencies, most specially the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

Ronquillo noted that the DENR, the agency mandated to protect and promote the environment, was allotted P9.58-billion for 2010, which is 17.6% or P2-billion lower compared to the current year’s budget of P11.63-billion, which is “way below” what is expected for a country severely affected and supposedly preparing for the worst impacts of climate change.

The alternative budget proposal, Ronquillo said, will hopefully cover climate change mitigation and adaptation measures anchored on (1) renewable/sustainable energy systems; (2) biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, fisheries and forestry; (3) clean and green industrial technology; and (4) ecological waste management.

The group also reminded lawmakers to give priority to protecting the environment by funding projects for the rehabilitation and development of the country’s protected areas and national parks, and the timely release of such funds “so that concerned government agencies will be able to do its job.”

Senator Legarda wants funding for the Climate Change Act of 2009, which she authored. Signed into law by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Oct. 23, the act calls for the creation of a Climate Change Commission. Priority expenditures include the purchase of more pump boats and other rescue equipment; development of water-submersible crops; and improvement of local area disaster response operations. It also calls for steps to reduce carbon emissions and increase forest cover as risk reduction measures.

Senator Cayetano, on the other hand, called for budget realignments to finance other pro-environment laws and programs including the reinstatement of the P2-billion slash in the proposed budget of the DENR.

Source: http://envicluster.wordpress.com/2009/11/06/group-backs-legarda-cayetano%E2%80%99s-pro-environment-stance-reiterates-need-to-make-2010-budget-%E2%80%98climate-sensitive%E2%80%99/