Zubiri criticizes PNoy's 4Ps, offers alternative

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — Former Senator Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri criticized the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) of the Aquino administration, saying it will not alleviate poverty but encourage long-term political patronage instead.

Zubiri, who was in the city Saturday, said the 4Ps is patterned after a government program in Mexico, where it was only intended for five years, but now it has reached to 17 years.

He said the indigents in Mexico have become dependent to the program, and “will likely stage a revolution” against any leader who will stop it. Any leader who will stop the program stands to lose thousands of votes there, he said.

Zubiri said that, just like in Mexico, the 4Ps looks like it is here to stay for a long time, since those who would move to curtail the program will likely lose the votes of 2 million indigents who are not benefiting from the program.

He also mentioned about reports that many family-beneficiaries do not spend their monthly allowance of P1,400 from 4Ps for food. Many of them spend it on gambling, liquors, and shopping in malls.

Zubiri however suggested an alternative, which he said is better, he termed as Foods for School program, which will feed children of indigent families breakfast and lunch every day in public elementary and secondary schools.

Under this scheme, LGUs will prepare food for these children, and will fed them inside the school, in exchange for going to school. In this manner, malnutrition is addressed, while the children are being educated, he said.

Farmers around the country will also benefit from the program since the government will purchase their palay produce that will be used for the feeding program, Zubiri said.

DSWD Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman, who was in Bacolod last July 21, said the 4Ps program will be continued until December 2013 and is expected to cover 321,000 families all over the country. She said that, since its launch in 2010, they have already disbursed about P703 million for 4Ps in Negros Occidental, with P231 million more to be released this year.

“We would like to ensure that the children of the poorest of the poor can finish their studies in elementary. ... We would like to make sure that these children in 4Ps would be spared from the same experiences of their parents…. We are actually breaking poverty,” she said.

Soliman insisted that 4Ps is not a palliative solution to poverty. “This is the right of a child to have education and be healthy: that if the family cannot afford it, it’s the duty of the government to help to make sure that the child avails of his rights,” she added.

Meanwhile, Zubiri said he is pushing for the postponement of the implementation of the Asean Free Trade Area (AFTA) agreement on lower tariffs duty for sugar in 2015, because Filipino farmers could not compete with other ASEAN farmers on costs of sugar.

“I will lobby and fight for the postponement of the implementation of AFTA from 2015 to 2018, said Zubiri. When sugar from other ASEAN nations enters the country at lower tariffs, Filipino farmers will have a hard time competing with lower prices.

Sugar producers and farmers must promote biofuels, Zubiri said. “If sugar is cheap, then we shift to fuel ethanol production. My dream is to see Negros as the Brazil of Asia where all the vehicles are running on E-85 fuel,” he added. — (FREEMAN)