Perennial problem

Poverty has been a perennial problem in our country. Up to now licking it seems to be far from becoming a reality because of the many stumbling blocks that hinder a real, honest to goodness solution to the problem.

So far, the main stumbling block is the inability to check or control the widespread corruption in the government. The latest World Bank figures show that from 2000 to 2009, the leakage from our national budget amounted to P1.4 trillion. That’s a lot of money which could have been spent to improve our economy by reducing our national indebtedness and building more roads and thus alleviate poverty. And/or it could have been spent to directly help the poor in terms of improved educational facilities and health services.

Of course by this time, it can be said that P-Noy looks sincere in his campaign to curb graft and corruption as manifested by some of his moves and the apparent transparency and accountability in his administration. Indeed nobody can dispute that we have a President who does not steal. But there are also signs that his campaign may eventually falter.

First of all he has adopted the same pattern used by the previous corrupt administrations in filling up government positions especially the “juicy” ones, by appointing members of his own party and the “KKK” which look more like spreading the “spoils of victory”. Then he has apparently favored some appointees implicated in anomalies and wrongdoings especially the KKK by refusing to “touch” them. And thirdly his administration seems to be singling out critics and opponents in its campaign as exemplified by the recent PCSO move against some Catholic Church prelates who were given aid in kind merely amounting to P6.9 million. Apparently a much bigger anomaly was not given as much attention by the PCSO. This one involves its former advertising and promotions manager who allegedly received 40% kickbacks on advertising contracts approved by the past Board amounting to P1.5 billion. PCSO could have equally aired said anomaly in media or filed the case before the Ombudsman. But it did not. The advertising executives who were part of the rotten deal preempted them. They were the ones who filed the case before the Ombudsman.

Other big stumbling blocks to solving our poverty problem are of course the government policies and statutes inherently favoring the rich or usually utilized to favor the rich. Obviously big business constitutes the ruling elite in our society. With their financial clout, it has a tremendous influence on the choice of people who will run the government both elected and/or appointed. Hence whoever is in power usually adopts policies and or enact laws favoring them. As a result, the gap between the rich and the poor is widened even more with the rich becoming richer and the poor, poorer.

And even if there are laws supposedly intended to help the poor and uplift their conditions in life,   sometimes they are still interpreted to favor the rich. Two recent rulings of the Supreme Court in the cases of Hacienda Luisita and the Coco levy fund involving the long suffering poor farmers in our country prove this point.

In the coco-levy fund case, the government during the Marcos dictatorship levied a certain percentage on the proceeds of the sale of the farmers’ coconut harvests supposedly to be invested for their benefit. These collections were deposited in a bank belonging to a Marcos crony who is related to P-Noy. This bank in turn invested in the biggest domestic conglomerate in this country yielding enormous profits. The farmers claimed that said investments in the form of shares of stocks in the conglomerate belong to them. But the SC said no. Those shares of stocks belong to the Marcos crony who owned the bank. So the farmers were left holding empty bags.

In the Hacienda Luisita (HLI) case, the SC junked the petition of HLI belonging to P-Noy’s family and affirmed the order of the Presidential Agrarian Reform Council (PARC) revoking the 1989 stock distribution plan it approved and allowing the distribution of 4,915.75 hectares to 6,296 original farmers. But instead of ordering the distribution of the land, the SC ordered a referendum requiring the farmers to choose the shares of stocks or the piece of land. In this country where money talks big especially in elections or referendum, the HLI will most likely retain the land.

But the biggest stumbling block in eliminating poverty here is still the continuing erroneous belief and stubborn insistence that the real cause of poverty is our growing population. Instead of curbing corruption, improving educational facilities and delivery of health services, adopting policies promoting social justice and enacting laws ensuring a more equitable distribution of our country’s wealth and resources, this administration chose to address the problem of poverty by backing the foreign crafted and sponsored RH bill allegedly aimed at managing our growing population. Actually however, the said bill will just make the rich even richer by reducing the number of people especially the poor who will share the country’s wealth and resources; it will even eventually stop the growth of our population. It is unfortunate indeed that some of our leaders like to adopt this bill for us and let our country go the way of other countries which have adopted the same bill where HIV/AIDS and other sexual diseases continue to rise; where life has become cheap because of rampant abortion and shooting rampages in schools and public places; where there are many broken marriages and homes because of infidelities and lustful sex; and where the population is aging and dwindling because no more babies are born.

In the face of all these dire possibilities we should “be not afraid” to vigorously fight for family solidarity and sanctity of life and put our complete trust in God Almighty.