UN cites RP for pro-poor programs

MANILA, Philippines – An official of the United Nations said yesterday the Philippine government is taking “correct action” to help address the immediate needs of poor Filipinos amid soaring food and fuel prices.

Stephen Anderson, the UN World Food Program (WFP)’s new country director and representative to the Philippines, issued the statement following the latest Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showing that hunger incidence in the country has gone up 16.3 percent the past three months due to increasing food and fuel prices.

In an interview, Anderson said the WFP “was not completely surprised” with the results of the survey considering that high prices of food and fuel are affecting not only the Philippines, but also the whole world.

“The (Philippine) government is mobilizing (its) resources to address the immediate needs of the people, but it takes time to cover all the needs of the people,” Anderson said.

Meanwhile, Social Welfare Secretary Esperanza Cabral said the latest figures on hunger in the recent SWS survey could have been worse due to high world prices of food.

Cabral said Filipinos should even be “thankful” because hunger statistics were not as grim as expected, with the soaring prices of food and other commodities.

But she admitted the need to expand and sustain ongoing government poverty-alleviation programs.

The SWS survey released Monday found that 16.3 percent or 2.9 million families experienced hunger in the second quarter of 2008, compared to 15.7 percent in the first quarter.

Early this month, President Arroyo endorsed a three-year plan to provide P28 billion in annual subsidies to 4.7 million households living below the poverty threshold.

The World Bank earlier expressed support for the Philippine government’s conditional cash transfer or subsidy program to help the poorest Filipinos cope with the rising cost of living.

Conditional cash transfer seeks to reduce poverty through cash transfers to the poor, a scheme that is based on factors such as regular school attendance or the regular use of preventive health care services.

Under its conditional cash transfer program, the Social Welfare Department seeks to provide monthly cash allowance to 300,000 poor families, including a health and nutrition cash assistance of P500 per month per household and an education assistance of P300 per month per child.

Act for food security

Meanwhile, the Philippines has joined calls for the UN General Assembly to endorse the Comprehensive Framework for Action on the Global Food and Energy Crisis before its current session ends in September.

The Comprehensive Framework for Action describes actions to be taken urgently by institutions and governments to meet immediate needs and contribute to sustainable food security.

“Today, the General Assembly can literally make a world of difference in this most pressing issue of global food and energy crisis,” Ambassador Hilario Davide Jr., Philippine Permanent Representative, said in the statement he delivered during the recent Plenary Meeting of the General Assembly on the Global Food and Energy Crisis.

“By endorsing this Comprehensive Framework for Action and implementing the proposals contained therein, the General Assembly, as the largest legislative body in the world, will be able to provide a coherent and coordinated response to the immediate needs of the many millions adversely affected by high food and energy prices,” Davide said.

The Framework was recently finalized by the High Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis chaired by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and composed of the heads of the UN specialized agencies, funds, and programs; World Bank; International Monetary Fund; World Trade Organization; and relevant parts of the UN Secretariat.

Davide also cited the recommendations of the Philippines to address the food crisis, particularly the creation of a global grains reserve to protect both importing and exporting countries from sharply fluctuating prices.

He said the Philippines has also embarked on a biofuels program using non-food sources and called for increased funding for global research and development, particularly for the International Rice Research Institute.

The Fours Ps

In a related development, over 166,000 poor Filipino families in at least nine provinces in the country will start receiving cash assistance under the government’s Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps), the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) said yesterday.

Local officials from the provinces of Agusan del Sur, Misamis Occidental, Zamboanga del Norte, northern Samar, Abra, Apayao, Masbate, Oriental Mindoro, Surigao del Norte will sign an agreement with Cabral today for the implementation of the 4Ps in their respective provinces.

Under the agreement, local government units (LGUs) will comply with the conditions of the program to provide basic facilities and supplies for health, especially vaccines and family planning services, and education.

Under the program, a family beneficiary with maximum of three children will receive a monthly allowance of P1,400, a P500 monthly allowance for nutrition and health expenses, and P3,000 for one school year or P300 per month for educational expenses per child.

DSWD said beneficiaries have to comply with certain conditions to continue receiving the cash grants.

These conditions include parents ensuring that their children attend school at least 85 percent of the time and receive vaccinations and health care.

The agency said another 165,000 poor families from Taguig, Quezon City, Cebu, Davao, Cagayan de Oro and Baguio would be targeted this year.

The program is currently being implemented in the cities of Pasay and Caloocan and the province of Tawi-Tawi.

To date, the DSWD in partnership with the Land Bank of the Philippines, has released over P20 million in cash grants to family-beneficiaries from the municipalities of Sibagat, Esperanza in Agusan del Sur, Lopez-Jaena, Bonifacio in Misamis Occidental, and the cities of Pasay and Caloocan.

DSWD said ATM cash cards would be distributed to 24,667 target households on or before July 31.

The selection of the poorest provinces was based on the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey, the agency said.

Cabral said the program is patterned after the Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program implemented in Latin America and Africa.

“CCT is the most widely studied poverty reduction program in the world,” she said.

In the Philippines, the program initially targets 300,000 households.

Foreign assistance on food security

President Arroyo said the government would continue to push for international cooperation and seek foreign assistance to ensure the country’s food security, particularly on rice supply.

In her speech at the launching of the “Katas ng Additional VAT” (Fruits of the Value-Added Tax), Mrs. Arroyo said the dramatic surge in the prices of fuel and food “has created a price crisis unseen since the Great Depression (in the 1930s) and the wake of the World War II.”

“We must continue to build and buttress bridges to neighbors and strengthen ties with allies around the world to bring in the rice we need to feed our people,” Mrs. Arroyo said.

The Philippines is the world’s biggest importer of rice and has been seeking imports from non-traditional sources.

The President earlier vowed the Philippines will “control its destiny” over food supply and no longer be at the mercy of rice exporters as the country will soon be self-sufficient in rice in five years.

She said the global situation makes it imperative for the country to achieve rice self-sufficiency.

Mrs. Arroyo, however, said the food crisis appears to “be well in hand for now.”

She noted that rice prices in Mindanao have been stabilizing with only some areas still experiencing high prices.

She said the stabilizing prices was due to the government’s agricultural program that is a combination of boosting production, improving distribution, and enforcement of laws against hoarding.

Officials earlier said government will buy some 600,000 metric tons of rice from Vietnam in a government-to-government deal, bringing to 2.3 million metric tons its total rice imports for 2008.  – With Pia Lee-Brago, Paolo Romero