RP least consumer of veggies in Asia (http://philstar.com/index.php?Local%20News&p=52&type=2&sec=70&aid=20070619233)

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute recently revealed that Filipinos are the lowest in terms of vegetable consumption among Asian countries.

From a nation that used to be the highest vegetable consumer in the 70’s and 80’s, Department of Agriculture region director Eduardo Lecciones said the Philippines is now tailing behind Cambodia and Vietnam.

Lecciones stated data from the FNRI that the annual per capita consumption of Filipinos is 40 kilograms which is far below the recommendation of at least 69 kilograms per capita annual consumption.

He said China has an annual per capita vegetable consumption of 250 kilograms which is the highest in the world.

He said DA is now bent on campaigning for an increase in the vegetable consumption not only for farmers to earn, but for Filipinos to have a healthier diet.

He added that there is a need to strengthen product development that will make vegetable eating a delightful experience.

Like other Asian countries, Lecciones said Filipinos must master the art of vegetable preparation where color and flavor blend to suit the diner’s taste.

He has also encouraged the promotion of indigenous vegetables as a means to address hunger mitigation. These include kangkong, saluyot, camote tops, kulitis, malunggay, alugbati spinach and the like.

Indigenous vegetables have tremendous potentials to address hunger mitigation because they are cheap and available, easy to grow and require less production inputs.

There are also loaded with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients ideal for promoting good nutrition in the rural and urban poor areas.

About 43 major kinds of vegetables are grown in the country and 250 lesser-known species.

The major vegetables are generally grown during the dry season wherein production is ideal to most crops resulting to high supply and low prices.

RP least consumer of veggies in Asia (http://philstar.com/index.php?Local%20News&p=52&type=2&sec=70&aid=20070619233)

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

The Food and Nutrition Research Institute recently revealed that Filipinos are the lowest in terms of vegetable consumption among Asian countries.

From a nation that used to be the highest vegetable consumer in the 70’s and 80’s, Department of Agriculture region director Eduardo Lecciones said the Philippines is now tailing behind Cambodia and Vietnam.

Lecciones stated data from the FNRI that the annual per capita consumption of Filipinos is 40 kilograms which is far below the recommendation of at least 69 kilograms per capita annual consumption.

He said China has an annual per capita vegetable consumption of 250 kilograms which is the highest in the world.

He said DA is now bent on campaigning for an increase in the vegetable consumption not only for farmers to earn, but for Filipinos to have a healthier diet.

He added that there is a need to strengthen product development that will make vegetable eating a delightful experience.

Like other Asian countries, Lecciones said Filipinos must master the art of vegetable preparation where color and flavor blend to suit the diner’s taste.

He has also encouraged the promotion of indigenous vegetables as a means to address hunger mitigation. These include kangkong, saluyot, camote tops, kulitis, malunggay, alugbati spinach and the like.

Indigenous vegetables have tremendous potentials to address hunger mitigation because they are cheap and available, easy to grow and require less production inputs.

There are also loaded with vitamins, minerals and other nutrients ideal for promoting good nutrition in the rural and urban poor areas.

About 43 major kinds of vegetables are grown in the country and 250 lesser-known species.

The major vegetables are generally grown during the dry season wherein production is ideal to most crops resulting to high supply and low prices.


How much would the health cost be of not eating enough vegetables (cancer, high blood, heart attacks, etc.)? Veggies also help in keeping the expenses down as it's cheaper than meat. I guess the stats above shows that there's a grain of truth to what others say that poverty or hunger is not as prevalent in the Philippines as what others want us to believe (just compare our veggie consumption with China). We should also highlight the fact that veggies in the Philippines are relatively "expensive" (maybe one factor why veggie consumption is low). One major reason is lack of adequate infrastructures that would carry fruits and vegetables from the provinces to the cities. That one reason why our government now is giving emphasis on infrastructures.

I wonder about Philippines consumption of fruits too.

has the dept of agriculture tightened up on inspections to reduce the incidence of formalin soaked veggies? (tnx jonno)

I still come across tomatoes that are firm on the outside but squishy in the inside - telltale signs of formalin soaked tomatoes.

probably only Ilocanos have a high consumption of veggies:)

has the dept of agriculture tightened up on inspections to reduce the incidence of formalin free veggies?

I still come across tomatoes that are firm on the outside but squishy in the inside - telltale signs of formalin soaked tomatoes.

you mean incidence of formalin soaked? formalin's carcinogenic or cancerous..that's one thing our government should do something about..it's sad we've got a lot of disgusting things happening around when it comes to food, sugar, etc - just watch that show on Saturday nights..gma 7 i think..instead of political investigations...why don't our Senate investigate these sort of things? they're budget's for national anyway and these sort of disgusting things seem to be happening all over the country...

probably only Ilocanos have a high consumption of veggies:)

good on Ilocanos, we should copy that, the government should instill the attitude with the young ones on elementary..teach them how to cook veggies deliciously and avoid those fatty foods..it's hard to get rid of it once you've develop the taste...i'm sure we could save billions on health related costs..look at Cuba, they've got one of the highest life expectancy in the world despite being a poor country..one reason aside from the free health care is their government's emphasis on the "right" diet..mind you the meat component in their diet is much much lower than the Philippines....we could instantly wipe out malnutrition in this country if people know how to eat more vegetables

Kagabi napanood ko sa 7, nilalaga/niluluto yung bato galing sa ilog tapos lagyan lang ng konting gulay, asin etc... ayun instant sabaw na. lasang sabaw ng tahong daw. hehehe

ako di rin ako mahilig sa gulay!!!!! GO MEAT!!! LOL :D

kaya di ko gusto yung vietnamese food parang kumakain ako ng grass...

Gustong gusto ko yung commercial ng Knorr: "makulay ang buhay sa sinabawang gulay!" Very positive! matututo mga bata kumain ng gulay.. kaso lang ang knorr panay MSG. :nuts:

meCbmp0AUF0

Kagabi napanood ko sa 7, nilalaga/niluluto yung bato galing sa ilog tapos lagyan lang ng konting gulay, asin etc... ayun instant sabaw na. lasang sabaw ng tahong daw. hehehe

Well what can you expect from our media? If hunger and poverty is really that bad in this country, then why is vegetable consumption here amongst the lowest in Asia?

I wont be surprised if meat consumption in the Philippines is amongst the highest in South East Asia or even Asia. Me for example, I love meat :)

I personally don't like vegetables especially when it's cooked. When it's in a burger or salad, maybe I would.

Looks like the Nutrition Drives of DOH during the past failed. I could still remember the "Iskargu" Theme Song.

I only eat meat/fish when I was a kid, pero habang nagkaka-isip at naliwanagan sa health benefits sa pagkain ng gulay, kumakain na. Gusto ko carrots kinakain ng hilaw na parang prutas. hehehe

Tofu! Tofu! Tofu! :cheer:










:rofl:

I'm a semi vegetarian..and I eat vegetables and tofu if there is availability. For 100 pesos, that is my budget for my meal for 3 days and that is compose of toho ( big tofu) baguio beans and carrots. I just don't know why people can go hungry if you are a wise buyer and nutrition conscious. One egg alone can suffice the protein requirement for a day including calcium. Our body wasn't made to digest so much protein and specially meat. The human anatomy was designed to be a vegetarian....flat teeth, long intestines, etc...I think the humans started eating meat during the ice age, since there wasn't any supply of vegetables and fruits.

We have to eat right to have a proper brain development. Genuises are not born...they are made!

In the Biblical view. The "Eden Diet" consisted of only fruits, nuts, and grains. Man was only allowed to eat meat after the Flood. God granted Noah permission to use the "clean" animals as nourishment right after the deluge, since the earth hasn't replenished its vegetation that was wiped out by the waters.

I'm a semi vegetarian..and I eat vegetables and tofu if there is availability. For 100 pesos, that is my budget for my meal for 3 days and that is compose of toho ( big tofu) baguio beans and carrots. I just don't know why people can go hungry if you are a wise buyer and nutrition conscious. One egg alone can suffice the protein requirement for a day including calcium. Our body wasn't made to digest so much protein and specially meat. The human anatomy was designed to be a vegetarian....flat teeth, long intestines, etc...I think the humans started eating meat during the ice age, since there wasn't any supply of vegetables and fruits.

We have to eat right to have a proper brain development. Genuises are not born...they are made!

natatawa talaga ako sa avatar mo, parang kumikindat pa,:lol: matalino/genius ka nga dahil sa gulay pero ganyan ang mukha mo, di bale na lang:lol: :lol: j/k

naku, this is alarming... what should we do to entice our countrymen to eat veggies. We need veggies!

Dapat turuan lahat ng nanay na magluto ng iba't ibang ulam na gulay

kasi masyado tayo mahilig sa Cabalen Food, puro meat, pero masarap

kami mga ilocan pati seaweed kinakain namin

pati mga parang bastos na gulay kinakain namin
tulad ng "kabaTITI" parang upo siya
tapos meron din kami ulam ang tawag "PUKI-PUKI" na gawa sa talong

lol. kinakain talaga yang mga yan mapagulay man o hindi.

Kagabi napanood ko sa 7, nilalaga/niluluto yung bato galing sa ilog tapos lagyan lang ng konting gulay, asin etc... ayun instant sabaw na. lasang sabaw ng tahong daw. hehehe

News like this or documentaries showing people cooking stones is such an embarassment to our country. I'm sure they have their reasons why they do it. Why do that? we are rich in fish, vegetables, kamote, etc....that is a complete stupidity and ignorance. Next time, the editor of that show must realize that not anything unusual is good to show or broadcast on TV...foreigners can watch it and say how stupid we filipinos are.

natatawa talaga ako sa avatar mo, parang kumikindat pa,:lol: matalino/genius ka nga dahil sa gulay pero ganyan ang mukha mo, di bale na lang:lol: :lol: j/k

Ahh ganun amigo ha...pwes hindi na tayo friends...ayaw mo ba ng pangit?:nuts:

hindi katanggap-tanggap ang pagmumukha mo pagkatapos mong bumigay at mag papalastic surgery. siguro pekeng doctor gumawa nyan sayo. tinakwil na kita mula nung nagladlad ka.

magtinda ka nalang ng kamote.:lol:

gusto ko ng pangit, pero hindi sobrang pangit. si letty at betty puede pa.:lol:

News like this or documentaries showing people cooking stones is such an embarassment to our country. I'm sure they have their reasons why they do it. Why do that? we are rich in fish, vegetables, kamote, etc....that is a complete stupidity and ignorance. Next time, the editor of that show must realize that not anything unusual is good to show or broadcast on TV...foreigners can watch it and say how stupid we filipinos are.

The show is about CARP program somewhere in the visayas, dun sa sugarlandia. Ayaw kasi ibigay ng may ari ng malaking lupain dun, kaya nagtiis sila at ayaw din nila umalis sa Hacienda.

News like this or documentaries showing people cooking stones is such an embarassment to our country. I'm sure they have their reasons why they do it. Why do that? we are rich in fish, vegetables, kamote, etc....that is a complete stupidity and ignorance. Next time, the editor of that show must realize that not anything unusual is good to show or broadcast on TV...foreigners can watch it and say how stupid we filipinos are.

I wont be surprised if our corrupt reporters actually paid those people to do something like that. Philippines relative to countries like China, Taiwan, Japan, etc. is rich in vegetation and such; I could understand some people in the provinces not having money to buy canned foods, a lot of meat, etc. But vegetables is something that could be easily found...to cook stones is just ridiculous.

Health advocates say indigenous food healthy (http://business.inquirer.net/money/features/view_article.php?article_id=83208)

A non-government organization here is working for the reintroduction of nutritious, indigenous food.

Dr. Susan Balingit of Sandiwaan Center for Responsible Health Care Inc. or Sandiwaan, an NGO focused on rediscovering health traditions and indigenous diet, asserted that "traditional Filipino diet is based on healthy food."

"It is a diet that includes food which nutritionists and health authorities around the world are pretty much in consensus about. Things like whole grains, organic vegetables, and beans. It is a diet very much in harmony with the environment," Balingit said.

Balingit said she and her co-health workers stumbled on the benefits of traditional diet when they noticed that city dwellers were more vulnerable to allergies, colds and ordinary ailments than those who live in rural villages.

Working on the hypothesis that diet has something to do with their health makeup, she said they adopted the diet of villagers, which was mostly vegetables, root crops and whole grains like boiled corn.

Balingit claimed that they became less prone to ordinary ailments after shifting to the villagers' diet.

From this experience, Balingit's group organized the Sandiwaan to promote traditional health practices and diet through small discussion groups and lectures that they hoped would lead to the rediscovery of Filipino health and health-related traditions.

Nancy Obias, a member of Sandiwaan and owner of a vegetarian diner here, said several discussion groups here have been organized. Their members are actively pursuing traditional and organic diet as a lifestyle.

"The first principle is to eat along the lines of traditional dietary practice. The second principle is to change and modify diet according to climate. Be flexible and adapt the food you eat according to the place you live," Balingit said.

The government has embarked on a similar program.

Dr. Edgar R. Madrid, regional technical director for research of the Department of Agriculture (DA) here, revealed that the DA has a program to encourage Filipinos to plant indigenous vegetables in backyard gardens.

Madrid said the program recognizes the proven nutritional value of indigenous vegetables and their resistance to pests.

These include the "alugbati," "lubi-lubi," "kolitis" and "pako." They require no special attention, pesticides and fertilizers to grow.

Madrid revealed that the Bureau of Agricultural Research has so far documented 20 varieties of indigenous vegetables in several towns in Bicol, with the support of the Bicol Integrated Agricultural Research Center in Pili, Camarines Sur.

He said the program's goal is to make indigenous vegetables a big part of the Filipino's diet.

I love vegetables. My meal is not complete without vegetables. A complete meal for me includes rice, viand and vegetables.

The lowly Malunggay takes center stage (http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&fi=p070819.htm&no=02)

Very soon, gone are the days when the lowly malunggay is not appreciated by many Filipinos who consider it as only a poor man's food and is remembered only as an important ingredient for soup to be given to mothers who has just given birth to their baby.

Malunggay as it is called in the Philippines, "Sajina" in the Indian Subcontinent, and "Moringa" in English, is now being eyed by the Department of Agriculture to take the center stage in the reduction of malnutrition and poverty in the country, and more so, it is now being eyed as a potential export product as a natural ingredient for cosmetics and pharmaceutical applications.

Many Asians use the leaves of Malunggay (Sajina) like spinach and also the fruit it produces as a vegetable, like asparagus. Both the leaves and the fruits are very nutritious, which contain many vitamins like Vitamin C and other minerals. For centuries, people in India, Philippines, Malaysia, and Thailand have been eating these leaves as a part of their food.

Now, those who laugh when Grandma forces breastfeeding Mama to drink soup with malunggay leaves or when Mama insists on the children to eat malunggay, will have second thoughts.

Malunggay is a wonderful herb known all over the world, but only recently in the U.S. It may provide the boost in energy, nutrition and health.

What a remarkable discovery that can make a tremendous difference in the Filipino people's health and quality of life. Mounting scientific evidence shows what has been known for thousands of years by people in the tropical parts of the world: Malunggay is nature's medicine cabinet.

Malunggay is best known as an excellent source of nutrition and a natural energy booster. Loaded with nutrients, vitamins and amino acids, it replenishes the body and provides what one needs to get through a hectic weekday or active weekend. No wonder Grandma insists on breastfeeding Mama to take malunggay.

Malunggay is loaded with nutrients. Each ounce of Moringa contains seven times the Vitamin C found in oranges, four times the Vitamin A of carrots, three times the iron of spinach, four times as much calcium from milk and three times the potassium of bananas.

What a cheap way of solving malnutrition in the country! Sometimes, people think that solutions to their problems are expensive and hard to find. But more often than not, real solutions to basic problems are abundant, cheap and even free. Health problems are especially solved with natural inexpensive gifts from nature.

Gone are the days when one finds himself slowing down as the candles multiply on top of his birthday cake, because Malunggay gives back some of the energy lost. In fact, Moringa is also relaxing...it helps to reduce blood pressure and assure a good night's sleep.

University laboratories around the world have studied Moringaís ability to purify water... attaching itself to harmful material and bacteria, and allowing them to be expelled as waste.

Other health benefits identified by people who use Moringa continue this same pattern: immune system strengthened, skin condition restored, blood pressure controlled, headaches and migraines handled, diabetes sugar level managed, inflammations and arthritis pains reduced, tumors restricted and ulcers healed.

Scientifically speaking, Moringa sounds like magic. It can rebuild weak bones, enrich anemic blood and enable a malnourished mother to nurse her starving baby.

A dash of Moringa can make dirty water drinkable. Doctors use it to treat diabetes in West Africa and high blood pressure in India. Not only can it staunch a skin infection, but Moringa also makes an excellent fuel and fertilizer.

Mark Fritz of the Los Angeles Times wrote, Malunggay has triple the iron of spinach and more impressive attributes than olive oil. Both Moringa and the common carrot are diamonds in the roughage department, but Moringa has quadruple the beta carotene, which is good for the eyes and effective against cancer. Fritz also reports on the positive results of using Moringa as a substitute for expensive whole milk powder in nutrition projects.

Indeed, Malunggay is a wonderful blessing for Filipinos because it is easily available everywhere in the country. This is a positive development in the government's campaign to reduce malnutrition and increase the income of farmers who would cultivate the hardy tree and supply local and foreign corporations with natural ingredients for cosmetics and pharmaceutical applications.

News like this or documentaries showing people cooking stones is such an embarassment to our country. I'm sure they have their reasons why they do it. Why do that? we are rich in fish, vegetables, kamote, etc....that is a complete stupidity and ignorance. Next time, the editor of that show must realize that not anything unusual is good to show or broadcast on TV...foreigners can watch it and say how stupid we filipinos are.


wala lang

sa japan naman, they use heated stones to cook some soups

ilalagay nila ingredients sa kaldero lagyan ng tubig etc

tapos mag hi-heat sila ng stones

tapos ilalagay nila sa kaldero w/ the ingredients and everything:)

Hunger at a record peak (http://www.bworldonline.com/BW100107/content.php?id=001)

Survey indicates 3.8 million families experienced having nothing to eat

HUNGER HAS HIT A FRESH PEAK nationwide, a new Social Weather Stations (SWS) survey showed, with the national percentage of families having experienced nothing to eat rising to a high of 21.5%.

The survey results, made exclusive to BusinessWorld, showed a dramatic reversal of gains noted in June when hunger fell to 14.7% from the previous record of 19%, notched in February 2007 and November 2006.

The national proportion of 21.5%, the SWS said, was equivalent to 3.8 million families and was almost ten points above the 11.8% average for the 38 hunger surveys it had conducted quarterly starting mid-1998.

The Palace immediately disputed the results, saying nothing significant had happened in the last three months to warrant the spike.

An economist, meanwhile, warned of the human resource impact, particularly with respect to schoolchildren’s school performance.

The independent research institution said new record highs in the Balance of Luzon (outside Metro Manila) and the Visayas were behind the overall national deterioration.

A total of 1,200 respondents were polled in the latest survey on involuntary hunger.

Household heads were the subject of the poll, which used the phrase "nakaranas ng gutom at wala kayong makain" or "experienced hunger and did not have anything to eat."

The SWS conducted face-to-face interviews with 300 household heads each in Metro Manila, the Balance of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao from 240 geographical spots.

The margin of error was plus or minus 3% for national percentages and plus or minus 6% for regional percentages.

Moderate hunger, referring to those who experienced it "only once" or "a few times", rose to a record 17.4% in September from 12.5% in June. Counted in this category were those who did not state their frequency of hunger.

Severe hunger — meaning it was experienced "often" or "always" — rose to 4.1% from 2.2% in June. It remained, however, below the record of 6% notched in March 2001.

Overall hunger rose in all parts of the country except Metro Manila, where it went down to 17.7% from the record high of 22% in June.

In the rest of Luzon, the percentage went up by 10 points to 22.3% from 12%, while in the Visayas, it jumped by nine points to 21.7% from 12.3%, with both areas notching fresh peaks. In Mindanao, it rose by four points to 22% from 17.7%.

Moderate hunger also declined in Metro Manila (12% from 17.7%) but went up in the rest of Luzon (18% from 9.3%), the Visayas (17.3% from 10.7%), and Mindanao (19.7% from 17%).

Severe hunger went up in all areas: Metro Manila, 5.7% from 4.3%; Balance of Luzon, 4.3% from 2.7%; Visayas, 4.3% from 1.7%; and Mindanao, to 2.3% from a record-low of 0.7%.

"Hunger declined in Metro Manila because the six-point decline in Moderate Hunger outweighed the one-point increase in Severe Hunger," the SWS said.

Presidential Management Staff director-general Cerge M. Remonde said he had reservations about the survey results.

"The gap is large considering that no significant event or calamity that happened in the past months," he said in a phone interview.

"If, for instance, there were typhoons, then that would have been understandable."

But he said the survey could be used by administration in its hunger mitigation programs.

"This could help us determine the areas where we can focus our anti-hunger efforts. We will ask the Department of Health National Nutrition Council to look into this so we can channel our efforts in provinces where many families are hungry."

Anti-hunger programs such as the food-for school-program and the Gulayan ng Bayan which encourages backyard farming, Mr. Remonde said, are continuously being implemented.

"We have also directed our institutions to be more aggressive in lending so the people can start a small business which would enable them to earn income so they can buy food," he added.

Cielito F. Habito, a former Socioeconomic Planning secretary and now economics professor at the Ateneo de Manila University, warned that the failure to address hunger problem would impact on human resources.

"For instance, if children are hungry, it will have an impact on their mental capacity and their schooling. Thus, the quality of our human resources would be affected," he said.

"The government’s plan to focus on school feeding is strategic as this would also make it attractive for children to go to school. But these are never enough because the incidence of hunger goes beyond the school," he added.

The government, Mr. Habito said, must strengthen its job-generation programs as hunger is usually caused by poverty and unemployment.

"We need more employment generating economics. One way is to develop MSMEs (micro-small-medium enterprises). They must have better access to finances," he said.

Yep. My family friends in the Philippines had only Oishi Ridges for meals which was eaten by one of their guests. :(

baka may diet boom :D

kaya siguro ang se-seksi ng mga gro ngayon. forced to diet :lol:

^^ :lol:

Kung may conflict sa Mindanao ang Government at mga militante, sa Luzon e conflict of datas ang meron:) between government and social surveys

yeah I only eat oatmeal once day, the rest tubig na. I am really hungry.

lol

Agree, kung hindi man conflict of data, mali lang talaga ang data. At take note kung sino ang naglabas ng survey - ang magaling na SWS na reyna ng fabricated statistics.

Ang mga nakararanas ng gutom na sinasabi ay iyong mga may malalaking pamilya marahil at walang sapat na means para magkaroon ng pera pantustos sa pagkain.

Pero hindi naman nagkukulang ang pamahalaan natin. Naumpisahan nang muli ang Food for School Program at ang Tindahan Natin kung saan makabibili ng murang bilihin ang mga mamamayan. Sana din ay tumulong sa paghahanap ng trabaho ang mga tao para kumita at matustusan ang problema sa gutom.

Agree, kung hindi man conflict of data, mali lang talaga ang data. At take note kung sino ang naglabas ng survey - ang magaling na SWS na reyna ng fabricated statistics.

Ang mga nakararanas ng gutom na sinasabi ay iyong mga may malalaking pamilya marahil at walang sapat na means para magkaroon ng pera pantustos sa pagkain.

Pero hindi naman nagkukulang ang pamahalaan natin. Naumpisahan nang muli ang Food for School Program at ang Tindahan Natin kung saan makabibili ng murang bilihin ang mga mamamayan. Sana din ay tumulong sa paghahanap ng trabaho ang mga tao para kumita at matustusan ang problema sa gutom.


^^ Talagang mali ang data at talagan sinadya pa boosted by media releases.... tssskkk!!!

i agree with the administration....

i mean what could have caused this steep jump? is it because of the drought? are there more poor people?

Baka naman ininterview nila yung 'di pa kumakain, not necessarily the poor people.

ako gutom ako ngayon. wala na yung kinain kong kwek kwek kaninang umaga eh.

hunger suvey nanaman tayo. :lol: ano bang meron jan?

i'm not saying walang truly gutom out there, its just that hindi survey ang magdedetermine niyan. dahil relative ang gutom., alam naman natin ang mga pilipino, mejo exagerated.,

sino ba naglalabas ng ganitong survey, its just like asking kung ang mga pilipino ba natutulog o hindi.

baka may diet boom :D

yes! :D

Though the weather might have been stormy lately but this couldn't alone cause such a drastic rise. I believe the data is still wrong. Plus add to the fact, whatever happens bad, they blame the government or if there are good news, they find something bad and still blame the government. Bayan Muna...sheesh...

Tell them hungry people to view our Pagkain Thread! :lol:










(Okay, that was mean, but that was the first thing I thought of.) :jk: :nocrook:

hay naku. puwede rin ba silang gumawa ng survey ng hindi nakakatulog?

alam mo bang pag gumawa sila ng survey nyang mga hindi nakakatulog , lalabas na kasalanan pa rin ng gobyerno?

^^ They would blame the construction noises of the government's infrastructure projects. :lol:

self serving minsan ang SWS... What else is new?

seems sad that the problem is actually getting worse nationwide

"We need more employment generating economics. One way is to develop MSMEs (micro-small-medium enterprises). They must have better access to finances," he said.
What, so by that he means more sari-sari right? :lol:

Mali mali yang SWS survey na yan, akalain mo interview ka lang ng 1,200 respondent. Magsabi lang ng mga 50 na nakaranas sila ng gutom eh equivalent na sa 3M ka tao ang nagugutom.

Wala naman tumama sa mga survey nila maliban na lang doon sa alam na ng mga tao.

saan sila nag survey? sa smokey mountain? hehehe wala na pala nun, sa tondo?
sa squatters area? 99% ng tao dun nagugutom. meron namn talagang problemang ganyan, pero bakit gusto nila laging ipamukha sa atin na lahat naghihirap pa rin, na kahit gumanda ang ekonomiya , may nagugutom pa rin.

dapat sa sws isarado na yang negosyong survey na yan at tumulong na lang sila sa solusyon.

^^ Closing this agency wouldn't stop the problem..
why don't we just give them a good suggestion for them to survey... like
What is the best solution to our problem according to majority people.

Kung nationwide tumaas, sa region namin bumaba. Bakit kaya? Wala naman sa region namin major govt projects. Could this be because locals are prioritizing agriculture?

Heto article napost ko sa Ilocos, Cagayan Valley, Central Luzon and The Cordilleras (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=451699) Thread.

Fewer hungry folks noted in the Ilocos region (http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&fi=p070924.htm&no=22&r=&y=&mo=)

By Henry S. Lagasca

San Fernando City, La Union (24 September) -- The government's hunger mitigation measures such as the provisions of supplemental feeding program, Tindahan Natin and soon the Barangay Food Terminal (BFT) bolstered the significant decrease of provinces in the Ilocos region considered as less vulnerable.

Except for La Union, the provinces of Pangasinan, Ilocos Sur and Ilocos Norte were not included in the list of provinces as having a high rate of hunger incidence.

La Union falls under Priority 3 among the list of provinces nationwide tagged as less- vulnerable to hunger incidence.

Director Margarita Sampang of the Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD), Ilocos region, said that the Tindahan Natin and the supplemental feeding program currently implemented in La Union, so far, benefited 10,631 families and 1,200 day care children, respectively.

The DSWD also reported that since June 2007, a total of 125 Tindahan Natin outlets were established covering the entire province.

The number of supplemental feeding beneficiaries is expected to increase by focusing more on the provinces' 5th class hinterland municipalities of Pugo, Santol, Burgos and Bagulin.

Sampang also said that surveys have been conducted in areas identified as "bagsakan" centers under the BFT program in coordination with local government units (LGUs).

Identified as initial BFT areas in the region, according to the DSWD, include barangays Sevilla and Pagdalagan in San Fernando City, La Union and the municipality of Sison in Pangasinan.

The hunger mitigation measures of the Arroyo administration being implemented in the region greatly contributed to the less- vulnerability status of Region 1 in terms of low rate in hunger incidence, according to the DSWD. (PIA Region 1)

I think the problem with SWS is their statistics. Are they doing the right way of gathering samples? I think they just asked 1000 people on the road in a given time and that's it. Maybe they asked the people during the office hours where all that's left on the road are the jobless people. What I'm pointing here is that their survey does not agree with that of the current economic status of the Philippines. So it's either, SWS or the government have no credibility. But I beleive in the government this time that our econmy is growing faster than before so In my Opinion SWS survey is a BS.

Hindi ko nga rin maunawaan kung saan kinuha ng SWS ang data nila para sabihin na tumaas ang hunger rate ng bansa. Kaya siguro nag come up with such results ay dahil selected lang din ang respondents ng survey. Those who are already below the poverty line might be the respondents. Eh kung sila pa rin ang respondents ay talagang iyon ang resulta dahil alam naman natin na palaki ng palaki ang pamilya ng mga ito ngunit nananantiling maliit lamang ang kita nila kaya hindi sapat.

Mas maganda sanang ipromote na lang lalo ng media ang Tindahan Natin at Food for School Programs kaysa ipangalandakan ang resulta ng mga ganitong survey. Iprisinta ito sa gobyerno para magamit sa paggawa pa ng programa. Ang nangyayari kasi ay ginagamit lang ang mga ganitong survey para siraan ang administrasyon. As usual, like during the elections this survey must have been made possible through a generous benefactor from the opposition.

Hunger at a record peak (http://www.bworldonline.com/BW100107/content.php?id=001)


Moderate hunger, referring to those who experienced it "only once" or "a few times", rose to a record 17.4% in September from 12.5% in June. Counted in this category were those who did not state their frequency of hunger. -- What do you mean by this????????

Severe hunger — meaning it was experienced "often" or "always" — rose to 4.1% from 2.2% in June. It remained, however, below the record of 6% notched in March 2001.

Overall hunger rose in all parts of the country except Metro Manila, where it went down to 17.7% from the record high of 22% in June.



On moderate hunger:
All of us experience "hunger" even ONCE ....in the past week or maybe just yesterday!! People from all walks of life experience it. Sometimes, the president herself misses meals....:bash: so, let's be critical of these surveys. and to think that the bulk of the "hungry people" is what is referred to here.
On severe hunger:
It doesn't say how often is often... again, let's be critical of the survey

SWS surveys..:ohno:

they need to go kimber or Penny's house. :lol:

well me I'm hungry every two hours but you know we have to control it.
i heard pandesal price is going up again. you know it would help if the prices of commodoties went down a bit.

Yes pandesal went up from Php1 to Php2.50, which is a huge difference for a lot of people. Mind you all how prevalent malnutrition is in the Philippines. Im not sure about people starving to death, but I do know that a huge chunk of our population has a lot of nutrition deficiencies that lead to ailments like goiter.

yes so many malnourished with hydrocephalus (sp?) because if you don't have enough money to nourish yourself how can you nourish ten children. poor children brought into this world out of horniness of some irresponsible people, condemned to have a miserable life in an overall heartless society.

Well at least now people from rural areas are having smaller families, if 4-6 children would be synonymous with a small family. Now in the provinces it is actually possible to live off the land and support the family, even with minimal income, though with some dietary nutrition insufficiencies. Of course transplant the same family in a highly urbanized city and quite likely most of their children will go starving for many days at a time.

Hunger at a record peak (http://www.bworldonline.com/BW100107/content.php?id=001)

Survey indicates 3.8 million families experienced having nothing to eat


pero may pambili sila ng load in fairness :lol: mabuti na ang magutom kaysa maubusan ng load.

^^ :) AGREE. (e.g. kapitbahay namin)

baka tinanong nila ang mga respondents ng tanghali tapos d pa naka off! eh talagang sasagutin nila na gutom na gutom na sila ne severe, hinde kase nakapag almusal, kase malelate na, coffee lang :lol:

kasali ako dyan sa mga taong gutom...am on a diet kasi, gotta look good for the graduation pic :lol:

:lol: i experience hunger all the time! we all do or else, there'll be no need to eat.

what's the actual question by the way? shouldn't there be a clause "...because you have nothing to eat" or "...can't buy food to eat due to lack of money" or something like that?

What's with malunggay? (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dum/2007/10/16/oped/rolo.b..cena.pulp.bits.html)

The fast-paced technology-connected modern day living gives Filipinos no ample time to prepare food. And in this I mean, food with the necessary nutrients our toxic-composed bodies needs daily.

Combating the toxic infection in our system is hard to do; finding the right thing to detoxify is much harder.

In the 80's, I still can recall that in our Youth Countryside Action for Progress (YCAP), a green-livelihood project initiated by the former First Lady Madam Imelda Marcos, we were taught how to do backyard gardening, animal raising, rice planting, composting, and other things similar to the TLE subjects of high school students today.

It was then the government first attempted to magnify the malunggay dish on the Filipino dining table. It was even tagged that malunggay is the food for the Filipino poor - the majority during the era.

Lately, the local Agriculture Office aggressively promotes the massive planting of the malunggay. For one, this is easy to propagate; second, it has high nutritional value; third, it has proven medicinal properties, and; lastly, it is commercially affordable.

According to the Provincial Agriculture Office (PAO), the variety can easily be raised in the sandy areas of Bacong, Dauin, and Zamboanguita, south of the province. I can find substance in the statement owing to the fact that along the highway, a motorist can even see a manifold number of malunggay lining the area.

It was even noted that malunggay, also known as kalamunggay by local farmers here, has seven times the Vitamin C content of oranges, three times the potassium of bananas, four times the Vitamin A content of carrots, and four times the calcium content of milk.

Other countries use malunggay to treat diseases. West African doctors for instance use malunggay to treat diabetes while in India malunggay is used to treat high blood pressure. The olden day Filipinos use this as antiseptic to wounds and skin infection - or as first aid, prior to final treatment.

It was even believed that it can be an alternative source of fuel, fertilizer, and livestock feeds.

In the market, among the vegetables available, malunggay is commercially affordable; you can just buy a bundle for P3.00.

Truly, besides being the staple for the needy, malunggay is a wonder in one. Undoubtedly, people in the island are just as blessed as the people of Canaan for having malunggay, a gift readily available.

In the late 90's, the Philippines was exporting saluyot, another local vegetable known for its fibrous properties, to Japan. Why not make an effective marketing strategy to make malunggay marketable and exportable to countries whose agricultural needs are dependent to the produce of the gloomy Philippines?

Do you think it's a good idea?

^^^yes, indeed..and it's so very easy to grow!
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i279/tonyboy32/00malunggay.jpg

How about we start forcing Jollibee to pump out a vegetarian menu? All that chicken and beef with whatever sauce it comes with does wonders with your cholesterol level. Haha.

^^ I very novel idea, but it's an uphill battle to win over the typically carnivore Pinoy appetite. :colgate:

Hmm....talong burgers (lightly fried tempura battered eggplant) with soy cheese, topped with grilled portabello mushroom strips, arugula leaves, tomato slices, peppers, and onions wedged in between two whole wheat buns. What do you think? :okay:

I too experience hunger, due to missed meals lang, and minsan pag nagtitipid dahil kailangan ng pera for some reason like meh dapat bayaran. I'm here in Metro Manila and the standard of living is higher compared to that of the places outside MM. So evidently, if the people surveyed are here like me in Metro Manila, the result of the survey would really be high. If the survey is conducted outside the metro or within provinces, it is less likely to be high. The reasons too are relative.

nakahiya naman tong thread na ito sa mga poreyner:ohno: ,napailing ako pag ito nakikita ko sa international page..pwede sinj itago na natin ang thread na ito...it wouldnt hurt a bit:)

^^:cheers: I think I will crave for more:eat:

:)Special Noodle Soup:

2 Instant Noodles
1 Egg
A bundle of Malunggay
1 Med. Carrot (thinly slice)
2 ½ cups H2O

^^ We do that too, sans the egg. We also add of mixed vegetables; carrots, peas, and corn.

gutom ako ngayon. ilang minutes na lang kakain na.

More....

Corned beef ala mix

1 can corned beef
2 tablespoon butter
minced garlic
chopped onions
salt & pepper to taste
mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, peas)


walah!:)

What's with malunggay? (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dum/2007/10/16/oped/rolo.b..cena.pulp.bits.html)

The fast-paced technology-connected modern day living gives Filipinos no ample time to prepare food. And in this I mean, food with the necessary nutrients our toxic-composed bodies needs daily.

Combating the toxic infection in our system is hard to do; finding the right thing to detoxify is much harder................?


Dapat nga ipromote to kasi sobrang dali lang itanim ng malungay, putol putulin mo lang iyong pinaka trunk nya tapos ibaon mo sa lupa iyong ibabang bahagi ng pinutol mo tutubo na iyon. Saka masarap na gulay iyong dahon at bunga nya...hehehe

GMA sets aside $120M of China loan for big-ticket projects
By Paolo Romero
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
PhilStar
http://www.philstar.com/index.php?Headlines&p=49&type=2&sec=24&aid=20071016190

President Arroyo has set aside $120 million out of China’s $1.8-billion loan assistance to finance anti-poverty projects and programs drawn up by local government units (LGUs).

China extended a $1.8-billion loan facility earlier this year to finance the roll out of big-ticket projects in the country, including rail projects and the Cyber Education Project.

Mrs. Arroyo also highlighted the connection between poverty, terrorism, human rights and peace in her speech at the regional workshop on the Establishment of National Human Rights Institutions in Asia at the Traders Hotel in Pasay City on Monday.

“To prioritize the provision of jobs, livelihood and basic services to eradicate extreme poverty, I hereby order the China Projects Oversight Panel to earmark an initial $120 million for programs and projects to be drawn up by local government units (LGUs) and agencies to uplift areas and communities suffering extreme poverty as identified by the National Anti-Poverty Commission,” she said.

Mrs. Arroyo was referring to the panel she formed last month to review projects funded by official development assistance (ODA) from China owing to the controversy over the government broadband deal.

The $120 million will be sourced from the Chinese ODA, said Secretary Cerge Remonde, Presidential Management Staff chief, who is also a member of the panel.

Trade Secretary Peter Favila, who heads the panel and is “minister-in-charge” for China, said the ODA was one of the outcomes of the economic cooperation pact earlier signed between the two countries.

He said the terms were very “concessional.”

Mrs. Arroyo said top priorities are LGUs with high incidence of severe and/or high unemployment. She said the move would be in consultation with bishops and non-government organizations.

The projects, she said, should be proposed by the end of the year for launching in 2008.

To expedite the implementation of projects, she also directed the Cabinet to begin preparatory work on programs and projects identified in the proposed P1.227-trillion national budget as approved by the House of Representatives.

nasa peak na ako ng hunger ko ngayon!!!! ang tagal ng kanin!!!!

ako nga, hindi pa nakakakain ngayon kasi late na ako nagising. sana na-interview rin ako ng sws at malamang kasama na ako sa moderate hunger

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x287/GearX_2007/hungry_children_cagayan_de_oro.jpg

:)Pulutan

Kangkong chips

Istead of potato chips or corn chips... try to prepare kangkong chips for your pulutan. Yummy:scouserd:

http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f340/maxxclip45/friedkangkong.jpg
Courtesy of http://www.kitchenjournalappetizers.blogspot.com

^ Ah crispy kangkong! Try mo yung ganyan sa Cabalen super sarap. :)

who wants an ampalaya pearl shake? what about an okra slushee?

I can't take those haha. Pwede siguro carrot shake or squash shake :lol:

By the way, diba may Knorr Seasoning that makes vegetables taste like meat? Has anyone tried this? Mataas ba ang MSG content?

^^probably, almost everything that tastes good is harmful

stupid survey... even wealthy people get hungry!
its a matter of priority..... much of the poor would rather stay in gossip places and majongans and spend all their money on tanduay and swertres and complain of hunger! people who are financially mature prioritize things and tend to allocate something for thier food!

ano bang projects meron ang bayan muna, anakbayan at iba pang partylist para sa mahihirap maliban sa rally??? eh kung yung ginagastos sa rally pinambibili na lang ng pagkain for daily feeding program sa mga public school siguro kukonti yung nagugutom!

tamang tama, the administration could lay down the long term goals by providing good economic atmosphere to our country to generate jobs and ultimately result to more income=more food for the hungry...(which is what PGMA is doing)

while the opposition could do the short term goals of providing immediate needs like food for the poor by redirecting their expenses for rallies much more beneficial feeding programs to complement the administration... magkakabati pa silang lahat! pwede ba yun?

maybe they did the survey five minutes before lunchtime...

totoo naman yun, pero hindi kasi ganun kabilis ang mawala/ma-solve ang problema sa kahirapan. sa economic growth natin ngayon kung tuloy-tuloy ang pagtaas, at sabayan ng kasipagan, huwag na muna mag majong, magsabong mag tong its si tatay, si nanay, malamang hindi na magugutom si totoy at ineng.

see that pic above. malamang pinabayaan ni tatay yan, eh paano nandun nag sugal, naglasing. utos ni tatay magpalimos kayo para may makain.

honey tastes good but it's harmless, hehehe ooopppss

Actually ang di nakikita sa pic na yan eh yung tatay nila nga nagpapalit nga gulong ng na flat tire na Pajero nila hehehehe :lol:

totoo naman yun, pero hindi kasi ganun kabilis ang mawala/ma-solve ang problema sa kahirapan. sa economic growth natin ngayon kung tuloy-tuloy ang pagtaas, at sabayan ng kasipagan, huwag na muna mag majong, magsabong mag tong its si tatay, si nanay, malamang hindi na magugutom si totoy at ineng.

see that pic above. malamang pinabayaan ni tatay yan, eh paano nandun nag sugal, naglasing. utos ni tatay magpalimos kayo para may makain.

I believe the solution for hunger and poverty is a two-way process. Government and the people themselves. Government alone cannot stop this when the people are not willing and do nothing to alleviate themselves from poverty. I had a long discussion on this topic with my friends few months ago and I hate the thought that they always blame the government.

akala ko nasunog na daliri galing sa website ni Reyslerz

I believe the solution for hunger and poverty is a two-way process. Government and the people themselves. Government alone cannot stop this when the people are not willing and do nothing to alleviate themselves from poverty. I had a long discussion on this topic with my friends few months ago and I hate the thought that they always blame the government.

hay, mas marami talagang naghahanap ng palusot, scapegoat, sisisihin sa kanilang paghihirap.

sa halip na mag isip ng paraan para mapabuti ang kanyang sarili, sisishin ang kanyang kapitbahay, kapatid, si GMA, ang DIOS, sa kanyang paghihirap.

Source: Inquirer
Last updated 08:23pm (Mla time) 10/20/2007

MANILA, Philippines--THERE’S A MAD, worldwide rush to find the “it” plant, vegetable and fruit.

As consumers clamor for everything natural and organic, researchers and scientists worldwide have been on a frantic hunt for the best sources of natural ingredients for food, medicines and cosmetics.

In the Philippines, scientists need not look any further.

According to Alice G. Ilaga, head of the Department of Agriculture’s Biotechnology Program Office, much has already been written about the country’s “indigenous vegetables” as sources of antioxidants, healthy oils and other useful substances.

In fact, most of these plants are already being used as herbal medicines in the past centuries.

“We have the advantage as a tropical country, because we can find a lot of these useful plants right in our own backyard,” she said.

Ilaga said the DA-BPO is currently eyeing several plants and vegetables, seen currently as among the most promising of the lot.

“First on the list, of course, is malunggay. Then you have sambong, banaba and lagundi,” she said. “These have been found to contain active pharmaceutical ingredients.” Full text of article here (http://business.inquirer.net/money/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=95690)

honey tastes good but it's harmless, hehehe ooopppss

kaya nga almost everything lang :D

honey tastes good but it's harmless, hehehe ooopppss

Yeah nilulunok ko ang honey kasi ang sarap tapos healthy pa :okay:

even europeans and americans get hungry!
di ba katanggap tanggap na katotohanan to???
kung ayaw magutom, eh di maghanapbuhay para may pambili ng pagkain!
ni minsan di kami nanghingi ng pagkain sa gobyerno kahit nagbabayad kami ng buwis!
kaya yung mga walang hanapbuhay dyan, mahiya naman kayo sa amin! puro kayo reklamo wala naman kayong ginawa para maktulong sa bayan natin! nakakahiya kayo! ang lakas nyo pang sumigaw sa kalye! mga juan tamad naman kayo! yung pagkaing gusto nyong isubo ng malakanyang sa inyo eh para ring bayabas na hinihintay nyong mahulog sa mga bunganga nyo! nakakahiya kayo!

hmmm.... i hope those scavengers get to read this... wla naman siguro tong offense sa nagbabanat ng buto... and i hope i didnt break forum rules for being frank!

even europeans and americans get hungry!
di ba katanggap tanggap na katotohanan to???
kung ayaw magutom, eh di maghanapbuhay para may pambili ng pagkain!
ni minsan di kami nanghingi ng pagkain sa gobyerno kahit nagbabayad kami ng buwis!
kaya yung mga walang hanapbuhay dyan, mahiya naman kayo sa amin! puro kayo reklamo wala naman kayong ginawa para maktulong sa bayan natin! nakakahiya kayo! ang lakas nyo pang sumigaw sa kalye! mga juan tamad naman kayo! yung pagkaing gusto nyong isubo ng malakanyang sa inyo eh para ring bayabas na hinihintay nyong mahulog sa mga bunganga nyo! nakakahiya kayo!

hmmm.... i hope those scavengers get to read this... wla naman siguro tong offense sa nagbabanat ng buto... and i hope i didnt break forum rules for being frank!

Ang may problema dito yong gumawa ng survey at hindi yong mahihirap na mga pinoy na sumagot ng survey.

^^:) Ako dinidilaan ko muna ang "honey" ko tapos saka ko kinakain:D

sipsipin mo kaya, mas masarap

yung gumawa ng survey nagugutom kasi....:cheers:

‘Graft worsening poverty’
Manila Standard
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=politics5_oct11_2007

THE Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said yesterday that massive graft and corruption and the lack of support for natural family planning methods are the main causes of poverty.

“Let us not blame the population as if it is a party to the economic and social problem of our country,” said CBCP president and Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, reacting to Iloilo Rep. Janet Garin’s statement asking the Church to stay away from government campaign on use of contraceptives and other artificial methods to control the population.

CBCP spokesman Msgr. Pedro Quitorio said that the reason behind poverty is bad governance.

Earlier, the CBCP had expressed opposition to a reported plan in Congress to appropriate P1 billion for the purchase of condoms, birth control pills and other reproductive health products to control population growth.

Lagdameo said the government funds should be used for hunger and poverty alleviation projects as well as for the free education of extremely poor children.

The CBCP head said controlling population growth through the use of artificial methods like condoms and birth control pills, among others, was not answer.

Had the government been supportive in sincerely pushing the natural methods of family planning and graft and corruption would be eradicated, the economic living of people, particularly those under the poverty line, will certainly be alleviated, Lagdameo said.

But the Catholic prelate was quick to point out he was not accusing any specific individual in the administration of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

Lagdameo also said the Church respects the conscience of the people and supports the public in choosing which family planning method they want to practice.

In support of Lagdameo’s statements, Quitorio said the Church was against the wrong means of controlling population growth and the apparent lack of interest and support of the government in pushing natural methods in the Family Planning program.

Lagdameo clarified that the Church does not forbid the advocacy of the increase or decrease of population provided the freedom of the couple to exercise sexual and family morality according to their religious conviction are respected.

Since the Church objects to the use of artificial contraception, it likewise objects to their dissemination, he said.

Citing its own records, the CBCP refuted government claim that the Philippines’ growth rate is 2.36 percent as it said that the United Nations using the same census data has arrived at a very much lower rate.

As it reiterated its opposition to the congressional plan, Lagdameo said the CBCP is throwing its support to lawmakers who promote the moral teachings on life, family and population.



____________________________



SWS: Producing own food no cure-all for hunger
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=96768


Owning a garden, fish pond or other supplementary food source is no guarantee that a Filipino family would no longer experience hunger, results of the latest Social Weather Stations survey revealed Tuesday.

The SWS survey, conducted last September 3-5, showed that total hunger is higher among families with a supplementary food source (22.1%) than among those without such a source (20.6%).

"The ideal scenario is that total hunger [incidence] wouldbe lower among those with alternative food source. However, this only affects families that experience severe involuntary hunger or those who experience hunger often," Leo Laroza, SWS senior survey research and communications specialist, told abs-cbnNEWS.com.

In the survey, severe involuntary hunger was experienced by 3.3 percent of households with a food garden, fishpond or animals raised for food compared to 5.1 percent among families with no alternative food source. On the other hand, moderate involuntary hunger is slightly higher among those with access to their own supplementary food source (18.8%) than among those without access to such food sources (15.5%).

"Thus the ability to produce one's own food is not a cure-all for hunger," SWS said.

The survey revealed that about 10 million households reported having access to at least one of the three supplementary food sources. Forty-six percent or about eight million households have access to a fruit or vegetable garden, 39 percent or about six million households raise animals for food, and 4.8 percent or an estimated 800,000 households raise fish for food.

Laroza said access to supplementary food sources tends to lessen severe hunger more among classes D and class E than among class ABC.

The survey revealed that rotal and severe hunger are consistently higher among class ABC households with access to a food garden and animals raised for food than households with no access to such food sources. No incident of hunger was recorded among households that raise fish for food, while it is 8.5 percent among those not raising fish for food, the survey revealed.

Among class D families, severe hunger is 2.1 percent among households with access to a food garden, compared to 4.5 percent among households without access to a food garden. It is 3.4 percent whether or not households raise animals for food. It is two percent among families that raise fish for food, compared to 3.5 percent among households that do not raise fish for food

Among class E families, severe hunger is 5.3 percent among households with access to a food garden, compared to 6.9 percent among households that do not have access to a food garden. It is 4.6 percent among families that raise animals for food, compared to 7.2 percent among household that do not have such food source. It is 5.9 percent for families that raise fish for food, compared to 6.1 percent among households that do not raise fish for food.

Supplementary food source common in provinces

Families with access to supplementary food sources are more common outside Metro Manila.

Household access to a food garden is 58 percent in Mindanao, 51 percent in Balance Luzon, 40 percent in Visayas, and 18 percent in Metro Manila.

Families that raise animals for food is 53 percent in Mindanao, 45 percent in the Visayas, 38 percent in Balance Luzon and nine percent in Metro Manila.

Relatively few households raise fish for food: seven percent in Balance Luzon, four percent in Metro Manila and three percent each in the Visayas and Mindanao.

Households with access to supplementary food sources are more typical among the lower classes than among the upper-middle classes.

Families with access to a food garden is 51 percent among class E, 45 percent among the masa or class D, and 39 percent among class ABC.

Households that raise animals for food is 41 percent among class E, 39 percent among class D, and 27 percent among class ABC.

Raising fish for food is low in all classes: five percent among class D, four percent among classes E, and two percent among class ABC.

ano? baka tamad magluto. hehehe

‘Graft worsening poverty’
THE Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines said yesterday that massive graft and corruption and the lack of support for natural family planning methods are the main causes of poverty.


At ano naman naitulong ng simbahan para mabawasan ang poverty. Tulong na ba yong magpakain ka ng lugaw isang beses isang taon sa mga batang mahihirap. Mas malaki pa naitulong ng mahihirap sa simbahan sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay ng abuloy sa simbahan habang kinakanta ang Cordero ng Dios tuwing misa.

Is it possible for us to remove the influence of church in all economic dealings of this country? I am getting tired of this kind of news. The church has nothing to do with the state and they should not be linking this in whatever problem of the society. For me, IMO, the church is another headache that hinders us to be a matured society. Hay.

Hay naku, SWS, Society of Witches and Sorcerers. Kaya pala namamagic nila ang mga survey results

^^ I like that new way of calling SWS... Society of Witches and Sorcerers (the dark side)

Idodonate ko po sana yung lunch ko kahapon:)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f340/maxxclip45/DSC00601.jpg

baka makatulong to sa mga nagugutom:)

Jobs created in hunger mitigation program
Business World
http://www.bworld.com.ph/BW102707/content.php?id=051

The Department of Agriculture (DA) said yesterday that under the Accelerated Hunger Mitigation Program (AHMP), the government has created 27, 467 jobs for poor families engaged in rice production.

As of Oct. 5, 95% of the targeted 1.3 million hectares of land have been planted with rice, Agriculture Secretary Arthur C. Yap said of AHMP’s progress.

In line with the higher rice production program, 3,445 jobs were created with the restoration and rehabilitation of irrigation systems on 11,446 hectares of rice lands; this benefitted 3,847 households and 3,445 jobs.

Mr. Yap said in the same period, 24,171 households benefited from the fishery component of the AHMP, while 772,068 families have been given livelihood from the Programang Gulayan ng Masa.

Despite the DA’s program to improve agricultural productivity, raise rural incomes and make basic goods affordable to low-income families, think tank Ibon Foundation executive editor Rosario Bella Guzman said data from the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) shows no signs of improvement in poverty and income inequality.

The FIES study said that the share of the poorest 30% in 2006 accounted for only 8.6% of the country’s total income, while the richest 10% account for almost 36%.

Ibon, which has been critical of the administration, said the figures reflect an economy that favors a few while neglecting the welfare of millions.

"The problem of poverty and inequality is certain to linger especially in the absence of genuine reform policies that would result in a just redistribution of productive resources in the country," said Ms. Guzman.

Idodonate ko po sana yung lunch ko kahapon:)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f340/maxxclip45/DSC00601.jpg

baka makatulong to sa mga nagugutom:)
i have a better idea..use ur wand a la-potter style to produce loads of food..then dalhin mo sa charity.
or save ur money and donate sa charity..don makakatulong ka cheers

for most of u who havent seen people in hunger..there are loads of places in manila. di nyo na need dumayo,marame sa tabe-tabe. baka nga ung survey result kulang pa.its not that impossible:cheers:
its so sad..the economy is improving..but kelan bumaba bilihin?
how massive is the increase in salary..just to buy necessities in pinas?

I've been to some pretty remote mountain villages in mindanao and the visayas. You will not see kids with distended bellies like in somalia.

You will see a lot of undernourished kids though. Rice or corn is not always available so on lean days they will subsist on rootcrops like kamote or kamoteng kahoy. Try eating that simply boiled and just dipped in salt and you will know the meaning of moderate hunger.

(ulam for them on good days will be instant mami). pero pag bagong harvest ang rice, sus. ang sarap ng palay bundok, kahit asin lang ang ulam, oks na :)

Idodonate ko po sana yung lunch ko kahapon:)
http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f340/maxxclip45/DSC00601.jpg

baka makatulong to sa mga nagugutom:)

Bisaya ka dong ? Favorite kong breakfast yan sa bisaya, ampalaya omelette. It never tastes as good in manila as it does in the visayas. :)

I've been to some pretty remote mountain villages in mindanao and the visayas. You will not see kids with distended bellies like in somalia.

You will see a lot of undernourished kids though. Rice or corn is not always available so on lean days they will subsist on rootcrops like kamote or kamoteng kahoy. Try eating that simply boiled and just dipped in salt and you will know the meaning of moderate hunger.

(ulam for them on good days will be instant mami). pero pag bagong harvest ang rice, sus. ang sarap ng palay bundok, kahit asin lang ang ulam, oks na :)



dati sa probinsya pag walang ulam, maraming manok na alaga(native), katay ng isa . ang sarap.:lol: yan ang namimiss ko:lol:

^^ mas mahal ang native chicken kesa magnolia chicken ngayon kahit sa probinsiya :)

^^ mas mahal ang native chicken kesa magnolia chicken ngayon kahit sa probinsiya :)
oo nga, mas masarap kasi yun at matagal magpalaki. all natural pinapakain namin, no commercial feeds(walang pambili).

Migration no guarantee out of rural poverty, says World Bank
By ISAGANI DE LA PAZ
www.ofwjournalism.net
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=97387


Contrary to popular beliefs, migration, despite the volume of money it brings, has neither brought rural folks out of poverty nor is it a sure fire way for farm people to clamber aboard the prosperity wagon.

“Where migration is more or less permanent, income from migration depends on the success of the migrant and the reason for migration. So migration is not a guaranteed pathway out of poverty,” the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development said in its World Development Report 2008 report.

The Washington, United States-headquartered IBRD, popularly known as The World Bank, cited in its 386-paged report that “despite massive rural-urban migration, rural poverty will remain dominant for several more decades in Asia."

The bank’’s World Development Report 2008, which focuses on identifying ways for governments to lift some 600 million rural people from extreme poverty, said that while this has been achieved, it is not due to migration.

“More than 80 percent of the decline in rural poverty is attributable to better conditions in rural areas rather than to out-migration of the poor,” the report titled “Agriculture for Development” said.

“So, contrary to common perceptions, migration to cities has not been the main instrument for rural (and world) poverty reduction,” it added.

In fact, authors of the World Bank report noted that out-migration of people from rural areas has even contributed to the constant rate of poverty rate in cities.

The report, released October 19, noted while the poverty rate of US$1-a-day has been declining in developing countries –from 28 percent in 1993 to 22 percent in 2002, this “has been mainly the result of falling rural poverty (from 37 percent to 29 percent) while the urban poverty rate remained nearly constant (at 13 percent).”

The report also noted that during the period under study, 1993-2002, there was an 81-percent reduction in rural poverty worldwide. But this is “ascribed to improved conditions in rural areas; migration accounted for only 19 percent of the reduction”.

Migration, the report said, “lifts some of the rural poor out of poverty but takes others to urban slums and continued poverty."

National

Even remittances from abroad are downplayed by the report on contributing to national poverty rate declines.

While the report acknowledges that there are “indirect effects of urbanization on rural poverty through remittances and rural wage changes, this is “through tighter rural labor markets”.

But this argument, the report’s authors said, has a conservative but unlikely assumption: all rural-urban migrants are poor.

The bank computed migration’s contribution to rural poverty reduction using the US$2.15 poverty line rather than the US$1.08 extreme poverty line “because it is unrealistic to think that all migrants are extremely poor."

Even so, using the same assumption that all those who migrate are poor, the report noted that reduction in rural poverty would still hit 81 percent, “not to migration."

“Indeed, almost all the decline in South Asia and East Asia is because of a genuine decline in poverty in rural areas. Even when China is excluded from the sample, 67 percent of the reduction in rural poverty is from causes other than migration,” the report said.

According to data compiled by the Institute for Migration and Development Issues (Imdi), there is no direct correlation between the number of Filipinos going overseas for temporary or permanent work and stay, and the poverty incidence levels.

For example, the National Capital Region, composed of more than a dozen cities, has posted a 4.3-percent poverty incidence level in 2003. In an eight-year period beginning 1998, almost a million overseas Filipinos came from this region.

However, the data that the nonprofit group Imdi compiled couldn't cite if these Filipinos just used the NCR as temporary residence prior to going overseas or which rural area they came from if they, indeed, migrated from farm villages.

It is difficult to determine so since the NCR is the reservoir of major government agencies processing the export of Filipino labor as well as the receptacle for the air travel and remittance industries.

Likewise, despite Davao del Sur, for example, posting a 24-percent poverty incidence rate and having recorded 55,117 Filipino migrants, Batanes island posted only a 9.2-percent poverty incidence level despite only 72 of its residents having left that fishing and farming province that’s the tip of the Philippines.

Another example is Pampanga, President Gloria Arroyo's home province, which posted a six-percent poverty incidence level. It is second to the NCR for having the most number of Filipino migrants at 125,226. Compare this to Pangasinan, home province of former President Fidel V. Ramos, which had 111,029 of its citizens migrating in the eight-year period ending 2005. Still the province posted a poverty incidence level of 18.6 percent, more than double neighboring Pampanga’s.

With the exception of Batanes, 14 provinces have poverty incidence levels above the national average of 25.7 percent.

“The high poverty levels of these provinces can perhaps explain why citizens from these areas cannot easily migrate overseas,” the Imdi scoping study on migrant philanthropy released last August said.

Impacts

Even the World Bank report admits it is difficult to establish migration’s direct impact on rural poverty reduction levels.

“Migration can be a climb up the income ladder for well-prepared, skilled workers, or it can be a simple displacement of poverty to the urban environment for others,” the report noted.

The report also cited that while remittances from migrants back to the farm household “can relax capital and risk constraints, the relationship between migration and agricultural productivity,” for one, is “complex.”

“The (temporary) absence of household members reduces the agricultural labor supply. Agricultural productivity can therefore fall in the short run but rise in the long run as households with migrants shift to less labor intensive, but possibly equally profitable, crops or livestock,” the report said.

Remittances, the report noted, “often drastically change the composition of the rural population” and “can pose (their) own challenges for rural development, because migration is selective.”

“Those who leave are generally younger, better educated, and more skilled. Migration thus can diminish entrepreneurship and education level among the remaining population,” the report said.

Likewise, the report cited there are evidence suggesting migration “is most accessible for the wealthiest and best educated of the rural population, as moving requires means to pay for transportation and education to find a good job.”

“Moreover, better-educated migrants are the most likely to have a successful migration outcome,” the report added.

It particularly cited the Philippines as having more female migrants to urban areas faring better than the less-educated males.

The report estimated some 575 million people migrated from rural to urban areas in developing countries over the past 25 years.

Of these, it said, “400 million lived in transforming countries, where migration flows increased to almost 20 million a year between 2000 and 2005.”

Migration flows as a share of the rural population have been traditionally highest in urbanized economies, but they have fallen over 2000–05 to an annual rate of 1.25 percent. In transforming and agriculture-based economies, the annual flow of out-migration steadily increased to 0.8 percent and 0.7 percent of the rural population, respectively.

The report also noted that international migration out of rural areas is male-dominated in Ecuador and Mexico, but female-dominated in the Dominican Republic, Panama, and the Philippines.

for some city dwellers, sosyal ang native na pagkain, kaya sa handaan maraming native dishes!

for folks in the most remote areas of the country, any canned food (sardines, corned beef, probably even noodles) are "sosyal"....

haaay..... kahit ako gutom na gutom na!!! wala nakong pambili ng pagkain, naubos sa internet!

By Henrylito D. Tacio (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/dav/2007/11/02/bus/potato.has.gone.a.long.long.way.html)

"IF WE continue to think of solving food problems only in terms of traditional crops (rice, wheat, and corn), many of which are now fast approaching their yield ceilings, we may be limiting our options for meeting future challenges," lamented Dr. Hubert Zandstra, former director general of the International Potato Center (CIP).

Now, will potatoes come to the rescue? Experts think so.

Recently, potato has been given finally the attention it deserved. During the World Food Day celebration last October, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) declared 2008 as the International Year of Potato.

"In most places, potato is eaten by poor people," commented Jacques Diouf, FAO director-general. "Through increased productivity, the developing countries have doubled their production in 15 years."

Currently, potato is the fourth largest food course of food for the world - after rice, wheat, and corn. Every year, 350 million tons of potatoes are produced, 52 percent of these in developing countries.

"The potato trade represented US$6 billion in 2005," the FAO head reported. "This trade has doubled in volume and has risen fourfold since the mid-1980s. So it's a growing product in terms of its impact."

While potato production declined in developed countries by around one percent over the last 20 years, Diouf said it increased by about five percent in developing countries over the same period.

The name "potato" is believed to be derived from the Inca name "papa." The association with Ireland is thought to be responsible for the name "Irish potato," which is retained even though potatoes are grown almost all over the world. "The potato is continuing its march," said a CIP official. "There's just something about potatoes that everyone likes. It goes with anything."

The history of the potato has its roots in the windswept Andes Mountains of South America. The modern world did not come in contact with the potato until as late as 1537 when the Spaniards tramped through Peru. And it was even later, about 1570, that the first potato made its way across the Atlantic to make a start on the continent of Europe.

Although the Spanish most likely brought the potato to the Philippines, the precise date or circumstances of the introduction is unknown. History records showed that the first mention of the potato in the Philippines was made by the Jesuit naturalist, George Joseph Camel, who lived in the Archipelago in the late 18th Century. The term "papa" was recorded by him as the word used by Filipinos and Spaniards to designate the crop.

"Potatoes are exceptionally nutritious: they are rich in potassium, iron, magnesium, vitamins B and C, and complex carbohydrates, have a better quality protein than soybean and are 99.9 percent fat-free," said an article which appeared in the October 13, 1990 issue of The Economist. "The idea that they are fattening is a myth."

Currently, there are about five thousand potato varieties grown in 130 countries around the world. In Asia, the top growers are China and India.

In the Philippines, potato is consumed as a vegetable and occasionally as a snack item. It is ideally cooked with meat, often as a meat extender in recipes such as “adobo,” “egado,” curry, and “lumpia.” There are about 12 Philippine companies that produce potato chips and snacks. Demand for French fries is growing at the rate of 23 percent per year.

---

Marami kayang mga pagkain sa atin pero ma-arte lang ang mga tao!!! :bash:

for some city dwellers, sosyal ang native na pagkain, kaya sa handaan maraming native dishes!

for folks in the most remote areas of the country, any canned food (sardines, corned beef, probably even noodles) are "sosyal"....

haaay..... kahit ako gutom na gutom na!!! wala nakong pambili ng pagkain, naubos sa internet!

sorry to disappoint. canned food in mountain villages without access to refrigeration is a necessity, not a luxury. They have a variety of self deprecating terms for canned sardinas :)

what could be termed as "sosyal" food for them is fish tinola, which can only be had if the freshest fish is available. Next to that would be fresh meat.

A typical subsistence farmer would have maybe a pig or two and a dozen or so chickens. The chickens they would slaughter only for very special occasions, and the pigs are for selling only.

(As an aside, on occasion, in some villages, they are able to trap wild boar. I've bought wild boar meat from villagers at 80-90 pesos per portion which weighs approximately a kilo. Much cheaper than mercado-bought pork. For food connosiuers wild pig meat is very lean with very little visible fat, but the flesh is very red - as dark as horse meat, but excellent for garlicky adobo ! )

RP to receive $ 75-M ADB loan this month
By MARVYN N. BENANING
http://www.mb.com.ph/MTNN20071104107677.html


The Philippine government will get the second tranche of the $ 150-million microfinance development loan from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) this month, barely two weeks after the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) and other agencies launched a campaign to educate the country’s four million poor households about microfinance.

According to NAPC Secretary Domingo Panganiban, the ADB loan is designed to reduce poverty among Filipinos by widening the access of the poor to customer-friendly credit.

The NAPC recently launched the Philippine Microfinance Literacy Campaign (PMLC) as a key component of the Philippine Microfinance Development Program (MDP), a government effort targeting poor families nationwide to engage in small businesses and agricultural endeavors to improve their incomes and wean them away from the pangs of hunger and misery.

The first tranche of the loan, around $ 75 million, was disbursed in November 2005.

The loan agreement between the government and the ADB stipulates a package of policy reforms that include better consumer protection for microfinance borrowers and increased financial literacy among the country’s poor communities.

NAPC Assistant Secretary Dolores de Quiros Castillo said there is a need to help more poor Filipinos understand their financial options and recognize how to effectively use microfinance services to their advantage.

Instead of microfinance products helping the poor out of poverty, the lack of knowledge on financial options could make the poor more susceptible to debt trap and low savings, Castillo said.

Financial literacy can enlighten the poor on the products and policies of microfinance institutions, how to calculate and compare costs, how to determine their cash flow, select what they can afford, and prioritize what they really need, Castillo added.

Also present at the launching held at the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) in Manila were BSP Deputy Gov. Nestor Espenilla, Undersecretary Gil Beltran of the Department of Finance, Eiichi Sasaki of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Edmon Sison of Uplift Philippines, and Antonina C. Ti of the Patamba Network of Informal Workers.

More than three million poor Filipinos have secured loans amounting to around R74 billion through the government’s partner microfinance institutions over the past three years.

Around 31 percent of the country’s active microfinance clients are small farmers, 24 percent are poor fisherfolk, another 28 percent are informal workers, while 15 percent belong to the urban poor.

The Filipino youth and indigenous folk comprise the remainder.

Bisaya ka dong ? Favorite kong breakfast yan sa bisaya, ampalaya omelette. It never tastes as good in manila as it does in the visayas. :)

Di bay:)

SWS: 9M families feel poor
7.5M families see themselves as poor in food
By Kate V. Pedroso
Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view_article.php?article_id=98998


MANILA, Philippines--About nine million families (52 percent) consider themselves poor, while about 7.5 million families (43 percent) consider themselves poor in terms of food, according to a recent survey by the Social Weather Stations.

Household heads' ratings of general poverty, food poverty and experience of hunger were "internally consistent," SWS noted.

Nationwide, the proportion of households who experienced hunger during the past three months was at 31 percent among those who rated themselves "food poor" and 28 percent among the self-rated poor, while it was only 14 percent among the Not-Poor, the Not Food-Poor, and those on the borderline.

The Third Quarter 2007 Social Weather Survey found that self-rated poverty has been at the "relatively low range" of 47 to 53 percent since September 2006. It ranged between 55 and 59 percent from December 2005 to June 2006.

"Since 1986, the SWS Self-Rated Poverty surveys have been asking household heads to point to where their families are on a card with the words "Mahirap" or "Poor" on one side, "Di Mahirap" or "Not Poor" on the opposite side, and a line in between," SWS said in a statement released Monday.

Both self-rated poverty and self-rated food poverty were highest in Mindanao, followed by the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Metro Manila. Self-rated poverty was higher in rural areas than in urban areas.

Self-rated poverty fell in the Visayas from 52 percent in June to 47 percent in September, the second lowest level since the series began. However, it rose 19 percentage points in Mindanao -- from 49 percent to 68 percent.

It likewise rose slightly in Metro Manila (from 36 percent to 41 percent) and the rest of Luzon (from 47 percent to 50 percent).

In rural areas, self-rated poverty rose from 54 percent in June to 63 percent in September, while it also rose slightly in urban areas, from 41 percent to 44 percent.

Meanwhile, 43 percent of Filipino families considered themselves Food-Poor, 25 percent put themselves on the Food-Borderline, and 32 percent considered themselves Not Food-Poor.

Nationwide, self-rated food poverty rose from the range between 37 and 39 percent during the first two quarters of the year, to 43 percent, which is close to its levels from December 2005 to November 2006.

It declined from 40 percent in June to 33 percent in September in the Visayas, but rose sharply by 25 percentage points (from 34 percent to 59 percent) in Mindanao.

In Metro Manila, self-rated food poverty rose slightly from 29 percent to 33 percent, while it also rose from 40 percent to 41 percent in Luzon outside Manila.

SWS noted that the self-rated poverty and self-rated food poverty thresholds have been "sluggish for several years despite considerable inflation."

The self-rated poverty threshold is the monthly budget that poor households need in order not to consider themselves poor in general, while the self-rated food poverty threshold is the monthly food budget that poor households need in order not to consider themselves poor in terms of food.

The median poverty threshold in Metro Manila is P10,000 in the September survey, while it is P6,000 in the rest of Luzon and P5,000 in both Visayas and Mindanao.

The threshold has reached highs of P15,000 in Metro Manila, and P10,000 in the rest of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, SWS noted.

On the other hand, the media food-poverty thresholds in the September survey were at P4,500 in Metro Manila and P3,000 in the other study areas.

"A declining poverty threshold, despite a rising cost of living, means that households are lowering their living standards," SWS said, noting that the thresholds have considerably weakened against the Consumer Price Index (CPI), which rose by over 40 percent from the base year of 2000.

"The September 2007 median poverty threshold of P10,000 per month in Metro Manila is equivalent to only P6,863 in base year 2000," SWS added.

According to SWS surveys in 2000, the median SWS poverty threshold was already P10,000 a month. This is equivalent to P14,570 a month today, considering CPI.

"The difference (P4,570)... measures the extent of belt-tightening that took place," SWS said.

Household heads' ratings of general-poverty, food-poverty and experience of hunger were also "internally consistent."

Severe Hunger, which refers to families who experienced hunger "often" or "always" in the last three months, is 4.7 percent among poor households, 4.9 percent among the not-poor and 1.7 percent among families on the Food-Borderline. It is 6.5 percent among the self-rated food poor, compared to 2.8 percent among the not food-poor and 1.6 percent among those on the food-borderline.

Moderate Hunger, or those who experienced hunger "only once" or "a few times" in the last three months, is 23.5 percent among poor households, 9.7 percent among the not poor and 12.3 percent among those on the borderline. It is 24.9 percent among the self-rated food poor, 11.1 percent among the not food-poor and 12.9 percent among those on the food-borderline.

"As a concept, poverty allows for various degrees of deprivation. Those who suffer from hunger are much more deprived than those who simply suffer from poverty," SWS said.

The survey was conducted from Sept. 2 to 5 using face-to-face interviews with 1,200 adults divided into random samples of 300 each in Metro Manila, the balance of Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao. It had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points.

SWS survey questions on the family's poverty and food-poverty are directed to the household head. The items are not commissioned and are included on SWS' own initiative.

GMA promises: ‘I swear to God,
they'll never go hungry again’
(http://businessmirror.com.ph/11122007/headlines011.html)
By Mia Gonzalez
Reporter

PRESIDENT Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said on Saturday night that she will do everything in her power to keep the poor from going even hungrier by staving off high prices of basic commodities such as rice.

Speaking at the launch and induction of officers of the Philippine Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCCI), the President also asked for the businessmen’s support for a government project to ensure that poor Filipinos have access to “affordable rice” during the Christmas season.

Citing an independent survey on national hunger levels in the country, the President said that while the results showed a decline among those living in poverty, the government must “accelerate the trend to eliminate poverty more aggressively.”

“That is why, during the holiday and beyond, we will do everything in our power to bring rice to those who need it most and work hard to protect the poor from high prices. I ask for your help in this hard work,” she said, adding that she had ordered the P1 billion more for the government’s food production and hunger mitigation program for the rest of the year.

She asked the PCCCI to be part of the non-government organization network under the food distribution program overseen by the Department of Social Welfare and Development; and to take part in the government’s scholarship program to provide more opportunities to poor students.

Promises are made to be broken

the only promise i want to hear from that woman is -

"I - WILL - RETIRE - FROM - POLITICS - IN - 2010"

:lol:

^^well, no stupid politician would ever say such. She did once and her popularity plunged.

Hay naku, be careful in making promises. But at least the government did not contest the survey like it did before. I'm glad they're acknowledging that hunger and poverty is still high.

^^ why not ? is there any other elective position higher than the presidency ?

cory and el tabako retired after their presidency. the american presidents have all retired to writing their memoirs after their presidency.

eh kung balak na namang mamuno ng pilipinas ni GMA pagkatapos ng termino niya sa 2010, gulo yan >(

^^hehe... well, we can never say. Pero yeah, it will be chaotic if she would still cling to her seat beyond 2010. Sabi mo kasi "I will retire from politics," you never said from the Presidency. Malay mo tumakbong representative or governor.

^ Yeah, diba nung SONA, may pahiwatig si PGMA na maaaring tumakbo siya bilang congresswoman?

^^ yup. and political analysts interpreted it that she wants to be prime minister should cha-cha change the form of government to parliamentary.

ano nga ba yung slogan namin in the darks years of the marcos dictatorship ?

"Tama na. . . Sobra na . . . Palitan na . . ."

naka ten years na naman siya as president. she shouldn't hang on and risk being removed extra-constitutionally.

:lol:

^^

What if she makes us a pledge that she'll divorce Mike A in 6 months???
Would that change your mind Gen??

:cheers:

^ I hope she just finishes her term and let history reveals that focusing on economic reforms will surely bring improvement to our country. With 14 presidents, we should know that it is so tiring to just focus on politics. More so, GMA is not fond of politicking, it's just used by her critics to oust her, but to no avail.

We should all be wary if hunger is at its record peak. I think the government is finding ways to mitigate hunger, especially with the recent Marianeth's death.

Let's face the facts:
Rice fields are converted into gated communities.
Oil price hike.
Lack of agricultural machinery.
Over population : Inadequate food supply/ production
Imbalanced food distribution/ Government support.
Attitude towards agriculture.

Let's face the facts:
Rice fields are converted into gated subdivisions.


that is so f-ing true...

if these rich people really want to live somewhere nice, clean, and peaceful, they need not look far...all they need to do is offer a bit of help to their poor counterparts so as they could make their lives better, and this country would be a much better place to live in

(and oh, as for those poor ones who are just plain lazy, heck, just burn em up!)

^^

What if she makes us a pledge that she'll divorce Mike A in 6 months???
Would that change your mind Gen??

:cheers:

10 years na siyang presidente by 2010. ok na iyon, @jonno. magulo na yan kung mamuno pa siya after 2010.

marcos extended his stay as chief executive when the end of his second and last term neared its end. He did so by junking the presidential system of government in favor of a parliamentary one. and by 1986 he had turned our country, once one of the brightest stars in this part of the world, into "the sick man of asia".

this is why members of my generation is wary of GMA. we see the ghost of marcos past in her. But the concensus in my circle is to simply let her finish her term in 2010. Pero iba na ang usapan if she hangs on after 2010.

10 years na siyang presidente by 2010. ok na iyon, @jonno. magulo na yan kung mamuno pa siya after 2010.

marcos extended his stay as chief executive when the end of his second and last term neared its end. He did so by junking the presidential system of government in favor of a parliamentary one. and by 1986 he had turned our country, once one of the brightest stars in this part of the world, into "the sick man of asia".

this is why members of my generation is wary of GMA. we see the ghost of marcos past in her. But the concensus in my circle is to simply let her finish her term in 2010. Pero iba na ang usapan if she hangs on after 2010.

Oh yeah, she has to go by 2010.

congrats kay zubiri at sa kanyang may-bahay, dahil sa malunggay, may baby na sila:)

Middle class shrinks as economy gains
(First of two parts)
Business World
http://www.bworldonline.com/BW112607/content.php?id=005

IT IS BUT NATURAL for any individual to expect his well-being to improve as the economy grows: Theoretically, such growth should trickle down or benefit all income classes through employment and other economic opportunities.

In the Philippines’ case, however, some segments of the social pyramid have apparently not felt the impact of a sustained economic uptick. An indication of this is a recent study pointing to the thinning of the middle class, instead of the expected expansion.

"In a span of six years from 1997 to 2003, close to four families for every 100 middle income families have been lost to the low income category," National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) Secretary General Romulo A. Virola and statisticians Mildred B. Addawe and Ma. Ivy T. Querubin noted in the study "Trends and Characteristics of the Middle-Income Class in the Philippines: Is it Expanding or Shrinking?"

The study said that while the number of middle class families grew to 3.42 million in 2000 from 3.26 million in 1997, a decline occurred in the succeeding three years. From 2000 to 2003, the ranks of the middle class dipped by 140,013 to 3.28 million.

In 1997, the middle class constituted families with annual incomes ranging from P148,307 to P1,207,122. In 2000, middle-income families had annual earnings of around P178,468 to P1,449,295 while in 2003, they had P203,109 to P1,651,632.

The middle class is also defined as those families owning certain assets such as a house and lot, a housing unit with strong roof materials, a refrigerator and a radio.

Percentage-wise, the share of the middle class to the overall population shrunk to 19.9% in 2003 from 22.7% in 2000 and 23% in 1997. This downtrend has left economists worrying as it implies that more Filipinos are closer to poverty than originally perceived.

Moreover, the middle class is an important segment of the economy, one that provides necessary resource inputs to enhance productivity and stimulate economic growth.

Countries with a big middle class have higher levels of income and growth, noted William Easterly in a 2001 paper for World Bank entitled "The Middle Class Consensus and Economic Development."

Economists interviewed by BusinessWorld offered varied explanations for the narrowing of the country’s middle class.

For Ponciano Intal, economist and director of the De La Salle University’s Angelo King Institute for Economics and Business Studies, the downtrend might be an offshoot of economic and political crises encountered by the country between 1997 to 2003.

"It could be that the narrowing was a result of all the closures arising from the East Asian crisis ... and then you have your political crisis in the latter years. This means it is your factory workers and salaried workers who were adversely affected," Mr. Intal said.

"What this suggests is we do have quite a bit of households that are on the borderline," he added.

"There is also a possibility of a significant drop for the duration in the terms of trade for agriculture, which means a significant source of that reduction in the middle class is really the farmer households who are in the lower middle class."

Data on gross value added for agriculture show a slowdown to 3.37% in 2003 from 6.56% in 1999. In the years leading to 2003 there was also a decline in aggregate receipts from agricultural exports.

"It is true there is a deterioration in the terms of trade in agriculture, we have a net deficit ... meaning we have more agricultural imports than exports ... but this does not clearly explain the decreasing number of the middle class," said Leonardo Gonzales of the agricultural economics think tank Sikap-Strive Foundation.

"Your farmers are in the lower middle class, but these are the more your progressive farmers," he added.

"Majority in rural areas are your landless farmers. So you still have to look at farm wages ... [and] in real terms, they are declining."

While employment in agriculture in the three years leading to 2003 increased, the average daily wage in real terms has indeed declined. About 37% of the population, at the time, depended on agriculture for livelihood.

It is also important to look at overall employment, not only employment in agriculture, the agricultural economist added.

Unemployment figures from 1997 to 2003 were relatively high, on the average, reaching double-digit levels. Moreover, underemployment during the period averaged 20%.

University of the Philippines economist Arsenio Balisacan, meanwhile, said "You would expect the proportion of middle income rising if there is growth ... At the very least, we should see some changes. But don’t expect a big change."

"On the other hand, the growth that we have been witnessing in recent years is not really that high after adjusting for population growth," he added.

For instance, in the past three years, growth on the average was 5% while the population expanded by 2.3%.

"Thus, we’re talking about just a 3% increase in per capita income ... that will not make a middle class," Mr. Balisacan said.

The bottom line, the UP economist said, is that it will take a much larger rate of growth to make a dent in the economic strata and the living condition of the ordinary Filipino.

"If we were growing as fast as India or China, then I would be very worried ... they have about 10% growth with population growth at just 1% or less," he said.

"In other words, to use this thinning of the middle class as a critic of the patterns of growth may not be fair," he further said.

Still, evidently, the thinning middle class is alarming news to economists as this implies that the Filipino family is becoming increasingly vulnerable to poverty.

Oh yeah, she has to go by 2010.


calling "Gloria forever" movement nasaan na kayo:lol::lol::lol::lol:

Hehehehe I am here...........

Rich-poor gap shrinking, says statistics chief
By Roderick T. dela Cruz
Manila Standard
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news1_dec11_2007

THE income gap between the rich and poor is narrowing, but the middle class is shrinking because a fraction of them has been joining the low-income group, the National Statistical Coordination Board said yesterday.

The ratio of the income of the richest 30 percent to that of the poorest 30 percent went down to 7.53 times in 2006 from 7.66 times in 2003, board secretary general Romulo Virola said, commenting on the results of the agency’s 2006 Family Income and Expenditures Survey.

“In addition, the Gini coefficient has improved from 0.4605 in 2003 to 0.4564 in 2006, indicating an income distribution that is getting slightly more equitable,” he said.

“The bad news is that the income share of the families in the fifth to the seventh deciles has gone down, meaning the income share of some of the middle class families has shrunk.”

From 1997 to 2003, three out of every 100 middle-income families slid to the low-income group, Virola said.

He said the middle-income class may be defined as those families who had a total annual income of P251,283 to P2,045,280 in 2007.

In terms of socio-economic characteristics, the middle-income families are those who have a house made of strong roofing materials; those who own a house and lot; those who own a refrigerator; and those who own a radio.

Virola said the Filipino middle class shrank only a little—to 22.7 percent in 2000 from 23 percent in 1997—but there was at least a 2-percentage-point decrease in its share of the population: to 19.9 percent in 2003 from 22.7 percent in 2000.

In absolute numbers, the middle-income families actually increased to 3.423 million in 2000 from 3.26 million in 1997, but then decreased to 3.283 million in 2003.

“The percentage share of both the middle- and high-income classes shrank between 1997 and 2000, as well as between 2000 and 2003, resulting in an expanding low-income class in Philippine society,” Virola said.

He said that as of 2003, less than one in 100 families belonged to the high-income class, and that about 20 were middle-income and 80 were low-income.

“Thus, in a span of six years from 1997 to 2003, for every 100 middle-income families, three families have been lost to the low-income category,” he added.

He said there were indications that the shrinking of the middle class continued in 2006.

“Generally, it is believed that, for a country to be truly and sustainably prosperous, there must be a broad-based middle class that serves as a stabilizing influence on society,” Virola said.

He asked development planners to do something for the middle class.

“We can no longer ignore the seemingly systematic shrinking of the group of professionals and skilled workers who can spell the difference between us being mired in poverty or crossing over to the league of First-World countries by 2020,” he said.

SPECIAL REPORT:
Black, bitter Christmas for 6M poor Pinoy kids
11.5 million Filipino children are poorest of the poor
By Rowena Caccam Figueroa, Correspondent
Manila Times
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2007/dec/16/yehey/top_stories/20071216top1.html

THE government says some 11.5 million of the almost 33 million Filipino children live below the poverty line. They are the poorest of the poor.

Marianet Amper, tormented by her family’s extreme poverty, killed herself last November.

Most likely, 6 million of the 11.5 million poor children are having a black and bitter Christmas season, like Marianet. They don’t have the bright Christmas enjoyed by the children of well-off and rich families.

They never hear the soft voice of hope and empowerment that one is supposed to hear from the story of the birth of the Christ Child. All they hear are the sounds of hunger, conflict and despair.

The other 5.5 very poor children are probably adequately lifted from desperation by the poverty alleviation programs of the government, the churches and the private organizations.

Street infant

Hope Andres (not her real name) has never believed in Santa Claus. She makes a living by begging from commuters inside passenger jeepneys with her infant daughter. She is only 14 years old. When asked who the father of her baby is, she declines to answer. But she told this reporter that if she would ever ask for a gift, she would want her baby to be finally out of the streets.

In a nation that values the youth as an invaluable asset, current data show that unlike any other sector of the population, Filipino children continue to suffer from hunger, abuse and oppression like never before.

The 2007 data published by the National Statistical Coordination Board showed that Filipino children still account for the largest number of the poor population.

Around 11.5 million of the almost 33 million Filipino children live below the poverty line. Hope is one of them. She is one of the country’s estimated 1.5 million street children.

Figures from the latest NSO Family Income and Expenditure Survey also present a more vivid profile. Around 20 percent have no access to safe drinking water, almost a third live in homes that have no electricity, and around 40 percent of Filipino households with children aged 13 to 16, are not able to send them to school.

As the entire country celebrates Christmas, it is but fitting to listen to the voices of some of them, for a deeper understanding of this season’s significance.

“I wish I can be free…”

This may seem to be a complicated Christmas wish for a 13-year-old but such is the ultimate yearning of Benjie Garcia, (not his real name) a ward of the Molave Youth Home in Quezon City.

Benjie is second in a brood of six children, and currently under the safekeeping of the Quezon City Social Services Department’s “Task Force Diversion” after having been caught shoplifting at a grocery store.

In between sobs, Benjie recalls how he was manhandled by the barangay tanod who caught him. “He hit me and my friend several times. . . He also put handcuffs on us and I knew that he was not allowed to do that.”

Benjie said he stopped going to school when he was in third grade and could hardly read or write. He only sees his parents during weekends. His mother works as a “stay-in” canteen worker and his dad, a stonemason, lives within a construction site to cut daily transportation expenses.

The rest of his siblings are taken care of by his eldest brother, 17, also an out of school youth.

Benjie still believes, however, that once he gets out, his family would once again, spend Christmas together. “Sana makalaya na po ako para makapiling ko na pamilya ko, puro mabait po silang lahat, ako lang po ang naging gago. [I wish to be set free so I could be with my family. They have all been very good to me and I am the only one who ended up bad.]”

“I’d like to go back to school…”

“My wish is to go back to school again.” This was uttered by Abby Solis, [not her real name], 13, another ward of Molave Youth Home in Quezon City. Abby is facing charges of Qualified Theft after allegedly stealing her employer’s clothes.

Last June, Abby traveled all alone from Negros Occidental to Manila to be with her mother who worked as a househelper here. After being with her for a short while, her mother decided to go home to the province and Abby took her place.

If given the chance to speak to Santa Claus, Abby said she would ask him for a cell phone. “My family does not yet know that I am here [in Molave]. I would like to hear my parents’ voice so much.” She said tearfully.

Case studies consistently show that poverty is the root cause of “survival offending” among Children-in-Conflict-with-the-Law or CICL. Such is the process of committing a violation or offense while in the process of carrying out one’s livelihood or in the act of survival. Poverty is one of the factors invariably linked to children’s vulnerability to commit various crimes.

“I’m so exhausted. . .”

Hector is 16 and works as an all-around errand boy in a sing-along-bar in Santiago City, Isabela. He works almost 20 hours a day for a P50 daily wage.

“I do not get to keep my salary because my employer gives it to my parents every Friday.” His parents travel once a week from nearby town Alicia to get his meager salary. He is the sole breadwinner for a family of 9, being second in a brood of 7 children.

His voice breaking, he tells this reporter that he could hardly find the strength to go on. “I sleep very late because the bar closes at around 2 a.m. I get back to work very early the following morning.”

When asked what he would wish for Christmas, he said he wishes for another job that wasn’t as hard.

Present statistics show that more than three and a half million Filipino children from all over the country, aged 5 to 17 work under often-grueling conditions, in spite of legislation outlawing child labor.

Statistics from the NSCB also show that as of 2002, around 30 percent of the Philippines 84.5 million population earn only around P38 a day. Fifteen percent of this figure are composed of families whose children work for a living.



_________________________________



Power, water rates soar; P1 'pan de sal' is history
By Ronnel Domingo, Abigail L. Ho, Amy R. Remo
Inquirer
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=106317


BRACE YOURSELVES...

This month alone, the price of pan de sal will increase to P2.50 and Manila Electric Co. will hike power charges by 6 centavos per kilowatt hour. Following closely is Manila Water Co. Inc. which will raise its water rates beginning Jan. 1, 2008.

The P1 pan de sal is history, according to three groups of bakers.

The price of pan de sal would increase this month to P2.50 each amid the continued increase in the cost of wheat, flour and other inputs.

Also, the price of a loaf of bread would go up starting next week by 5 percent, up to P45 for independent or neighborhood bakeries and P52 for the big players.

The three groups are the Philippine Federation of Bakers Association Inc. (PFBAI) and the Filipino-Chinese Bakers Association Inc. (FCBAI)--representing the small players--and the Philippine Baking Industry Group, which includes Gardenia Bakeries, Julie's Bakeshop, Creative Bakers, French Baker and other established brands.

In a joint media briefing, association officials said bakeries had been suffering the past six months due to the upward spiraling of prices of wheat and flour.

No choice

Lucito Chavez, president of PFBAI, said bakeries had no choice but to pass on the December flour price increase of 6 percent lest they sustain heavy losses in the holiday season.

"We are no longer capable of tightening our belts any further or else we would have to close our businesses," Chavez said.

Industry data showed that the price of flour had risen steadily by at least 6 percent a month in the last six months. A 25-kilogram bag cost P580 in July but now fetches P840.

Simplicio P. Umali Jr., president of PhilBaking, said that an 11-percent flour price hike in October and 9 percent in November had not been fully reflected in the price of bread.

No relief in sight

Umali said that on top of this month's 6-percent price increase, word was going around that prices would go up again by 10 percent in January.

The industry groups said the global increase in wheat prices due to short supplies was pulling up local prices of flour.

In the United States, which is the country's primary source of wheat, price increases have reached 78 percent with a metric ton now fetching $399 free on board compared to $224 a ton last year.

"Flour prices could have been higher if not for the continued appreciation of the peso against the dollar," Umali said.

He said domestic price hikes were also affecting other flour-based products like noodles, cakes, pastries and snack foods.

According to the PFBAI and FCBAI, most of the independent bakeries have given up on making pan de sal at P1 apiece a few months ago as they were forced to jack up the price to P1.50.

Power rates up, too

Consumers will experience a 6-centavo-per-kilowatt-hour increase in electricity charges this month as Meralco passes on its recovery of purchased power costs from the month before.

From P4.3525 per kWh in November, Meralco's generation charge went up to P4.4125 per kWh this month.

Meralco president and chief operating officer Jesus Francisco explained, however, that the increase in the December generation charge component of electricity bills was not an actual rate increase, but was a result of the automatic generation rate adjustment (Agra) mechanism.

Under the Agra, distribution utilities such as Meralco can automatically adjust generation and system loss charges sans prior approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

"Every month, we get power from various generators. Naturally, the costs fluctuate for various reasons, such as fuel price, plant conditions, among others. So the average generation charge will move up or down," Francisco explained.

Rate adjustments

Despite the Agra's automatic nature, however, he said Meralco still had to submit to the ERC the figures that they would use for their generation rate adjustments.

"We do submit these figures monthly to the ERC for them to check or validate. They are also on our website," he said.

What was still pending with the ERC, he said, were 10 petitions covering generation cost recovery from September 2006 to June 2007, the period when the ERC suspended the Agra scheme.

These under-recoveries would be taken as a separate issue within the year, he said.

No recoveries would be made without prior approval from the ERC, at least for these 10 pending petitions, Francisco added. These would not form part of any Agra-related adjustments in the coming months.

Water rates follow

Ayala-owned MWCI will increase its water rates starting Jan. 1, 2008.

MWCI said it planned to increase the "average all-in tariff" to P34.04 a cubic meter from the current P20.54 a cubic meter.

The adjustment was necessary to cover additional capital expenses in the next 15 years.

Average all-in tariff refers to the mean of all the tariffs and add-on costs related to MWCI's four customer types: Residential, semi-business, commercial and industrial.

Jeric Sevilla of MWCI Corporate Communications office said consumers would not individually bear the P14.50 per cubic meter increase.

"We are still waiting for the final resolution from the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System as to how we will spread the rates among our customers--whether we will impose it at one time next year or spread it in the next five years," Sevilla said, adding that the final water rates would be issued on Thursday or on Friday at the latest.

Staggered increases

He added that customers would be paying less than the P14-increment.

In a previous briefing, the MWSS-Regulatory Office explained that the tariff increase would translate to an average increase of P187 in the monthly bill of residents who consume 30 cubic meters or an increase of P6.20 a day.

Say, you consume 30 cubic meters of water a month, your bill would increase to P520 from the old P333 you were paying.

Sevilla said the P6.20 a day hike was applicable if MWSS decided to impose the increase on a one-time basis for the next five years (2008 to 2012).

"But based on our public consultations, consumers want the increase to be staggered over the next five years, like what we did during our rate rebasing in 2003," he said.

Back in 2003, MWCI imposed a P7-increment in two stages--a P3-increase in 2003 and a P4-increase in 2005.

MWCI president Antonino Aquino said the tariff increase was needed to ensure the reliability of water supply to the east zone and to enable the expansion of services in the next 15 years.

The planned water projects and investments are worth roughly P117 billion, he added.

"MWCI must prepare for the increase of population, effects of natural calamities and compliance with the Clean Water Act. To do so, major investments are needed to ensure 24-hour water supply," Aquino said.

These investments include finding new water sources aside from the Angat Dam, where Metro Manila sources 97 percent of its water supply, as well as the continuous repair, rehabilitation and laying down of pipelines to avoid leaks and aggressive expansion of a waste-water program.

Dami-dami na natin!

Population to reach 90.4M
By CHRISTINA I. HERMOSO
Business World
http://www.mb.com.ph/MTNN20080105113506.html

The National Statistics Office (NSO) said yesterday the Philippine population is projected to reach 90.4 million this year based on the 2000 census-based projections.

NSO Administrator Carmelita N. Ericta said the population is expected to reach 90,457,200 this year with the male population group estimated at 45,483,100 which is slightly higher than the female population which is expected to reach 44,974,100 based on the medium series of the census-based population projections conducted by the NSO in collaboration with the Inter-Agency Working Group on Population Projections in May 2000.

Last year, the NSO recorded the country’s population at 88.7 million with the male population estimated at 44,608,300 while the female population was estimated at 44,098,000.

Ericta said that by 2040, the country’s population is expected to reach about 141.7 million, or an addition of 65 million people between the years 2000 and 2040 "even if the average annual growth rate is projected to drastically decline from 2.34 percent during the 1999 to 2000 period to around 1.0 percent during the 2030 to 2040 period."

"The population is projected to grow by 1.95 percent in the 2005 to 2010 period, from 85.3 million in 2005 to 94 million in 2010," Ericta said.

When the census-based population projections was conducted in 2000, the Philippine population was recorded at 76.5 million.

NSO survey: Rich-poor gap in RP remains wide
ABS-CBN
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/topofthehour.aspx?StoryId=105341

The gap between rich and poor in the Philippines remains wide, with the richest 10 percent of families raking in more than a third of the country's total income, according to government data released Saturday.

According to the results of the 2006 Family Income and Expenditures Survey (FIES), released by the National Statistics Office (NSO), the richest ten percent of families in the country, representing approximately 1.74 million families, earned 35.9 percent of the total 2006 family income of P3.01 trillion, down slightly from 36.3 percent in 2003.

On the other hand, the share in the total family income of the poorest ten percent of families increased slightly to 1.9 percent in 2006, from 1.8 percent in 2003.

The total annual family expenditure, on the other hand, was approximately P2.56 trillion, or P147,000 per family on the average.

The total family income of the richest ten percent of families in the country was estimated at P1.08 trillion.

However, the 2006 FIES also showed that the gap of the income between the richest ten percent and poorest ten percent of families slightly "narrowed" in 2006, compared to 2003 figures.

In 2003, the income of the richest ten percent of families was 20 times the income of the poorest ten percent, while in the 2006 FIES the figure was 19 times that of the poorest ten percent, the statement said.

The disparity would also be seen in the 2006 figures which said that richest 30% in the country had 91.4% of total income or P2.734 trillion while the bottom 30% only account for 8.6% of total income or P258 billion.

The data placed the average family income at P173,000 a year for the country's estimated 17.4 million families, with few families having any savings.

Among the regions, the National Capital Region had the biggest share of the total annual family income, accounting for approximately one fourth of the country’s entire figure at P734 billion.

The Autonomous Region for Muslim Mindanao, meanwhile, accounted for the smallest share with 1.6 percent of the pie at P47 billion, the statement read.

The statement also said that all of the country's regions showed increases in average annual income between 2003 and 2006, with NCR, CALABARZON, Central Luzon, and the Cordillera Administrative Region leading the rankings. ARMM, meanwhile, registered the lowest income increase among the regions.

The government says a Filipino family has about four members on average.

The survey indicated "a movement towards a widening income disparity among families" in six regions as suggested by the Gini coefficient, a global standard on measuring income equality within a population, the statement said.

A Gini coefficient ranges from 0 to 1, with 0 indicating perfect income equality among families, and 1 indicating absolute income inequality, the statement explained.

Among the six regions with increasing Gini coefficients, Central Luzon had the largest increase, from 0.3515 in 2003 to 0.3994 in 2006. On the other hand, ARMM had the least income disparity with a Gini coefficient of 0.3113, lower than its 2003 figure of 0.3578.

On the whole, the Gini coefficient of the Philippines was pegged at 0.4564, slightly lower than the 2003 figure of 0.4605.

According to the NSO, the 2006 Family Income and Expenditure Survey is a nationwide survey of households undertaken every three years, and is the main source of data on family income and expenditure, such as levels of consumption by item of expenditure as well as sources of income in cash and in kind.

Other important results and findings regarding family income and expenditure will be presented in a data dissemination forum scheduled in January 2008, the statement read.

The whole truth about breakfast (http://showbizandstyle.inquirer.net/lifestyle/lifestyle/view/20080128-115347/The-whole-truth-about-breakfast)

MANILA, Philippines — As the term suggests, breakfast is supposed to break a fast. After all, unless someone is sleepwalking, he/she does not take anything while asleep.

Surprisingly, Filipinos, who seem to spend their waking hours munching on something, do not jump out of bed when they awake and go straight to the dining table to make up for all that time when they did not put anything in their stomachs.

Whether they sleep for the recommended eight hours or a fraction of that time, Filipinos still have to be reminded to start the day with a good, filling and nutritious meal.

The usual excuse is the constraints of life in the modern world leave little time for a leisurely breakfast.

Adults have to rush off to work or other activities while children have to catch the school bus or, those in public schools, have to start early so two other classes can use their rooms.

Ironically, experts point out that the meal they are skipping is actually the one they need most to cope with the day’s work, challenges and aggravations.

Like fuel to vehicles and machines, a good morning meal energizes, makes the body parts perform the way they should, awakens the mind for the work it has to do and generally just keeps a person alert the whole day.

Children, in particular, need all the benefits of a hearty breakfast as they try to cope with the mental, physical, and psychological demands of school work and other activities.

At a recent symposium on “Sowing the Seeds for a Healthy Child” organized by Nestlé, Dr. Jaime Z. Galvez Tan pointed out that breakfast replenished blood glucose levels after an overnight fast.

Good start

For schoolchildren, a nutritious breakfast gave the day a good start as it improved academic performance and psychosocial functions.

Galvez Tan, former health secretary and now professor at the University of the Philippines College of Medicine, said breakfast made students more alert and improved their memory, among others.

A full stomach improved their mood and their relationship with their classmates.

On the long-term, breakfast improved overall nutrition. A healthy breakfast, Galvez Tan said, provided about a third of a person’s daily nutritional requirements.

He said it was a misconception that skipping breakfast helped people lose weight.

On the contrary, he said breakfast “helps maintain a healthy weight and a normal body mass index.”

He cited published studies that showed breakfast “reduced obesity risk, prevented stunting, [meant] better physical endurance,” among others.

So important is having that first meal of the day that Galvez Tan said, “Any breakfast is better than no breakfast at all.”

But, of course, for Galvez Tan and other symposium speakers, a nutritious breakfast should be the norm.

Nutritious isn’t expensive

Marikina Mayor Maria Lourdes Fernando said, in her city, they were promoting the eating of breakfast and also the idea that a nutritious meal did not have to be expensive. Thus, they supported any campaign to fortify food to make it more convenient for people to get the nutrients they needed.

Dr. Trinidad Trinidad of the Food and Nutrition Research Institute-Department of Science and Technology underscored the benefits of foods that provided complex carbohydrates and had high fiber content like whole-grain products.

Among other things, such foods, she said, slowly released glucose into the blood helping improve memory and concentration, two things schoolchildren, in particular, needed.

Officials of Nestlé and General Mills said it was in recognition of the benefits of fiber and complex carbohydrates that the companies came up with their line of whole grain breakfast cereals.

Corazon V. Sager of Nestlé’s Wellness Unit said they wanted to empower consumers to make the right choice for wellness and health.

Nutritionist Brigid McKevith said whole grain cereals were not only nutrient-rich but also “convenient and tasty... upgrading the value of the first meal of the day.”

Nestlé has launched its Healthier Breakfast Campaign with Whole Grain, as part of its Nutrition and Wellness program. Among the initial activities of the campaign is Promoting Good Nutrition and Health Breakfast program with Marikina.

The company is also supporting the supplementary feeding program of the Department of Education.

During the symposium, parenting advocate Maricel Laxa-Pangilinan stressed that, while more nutritious products were now in the market like Nestlé’s whole grain line, it was important that parents set the right example to get children to develop the habit of eating breakfast.

Baka naman yung mga ininterview nila eh yung mga taong pinambili ng load yung baon kaya nagugutom. Hehehe.

Paano nila ginawa yung survey? Anong nasa questionaire?

"Are you hungry"[tapos msabay tanghali pa ginawa uyng survey.

Plus, surveys aren't really a representation. "sampling" lang siya. Kahit tanungin niyo yung math instructor ko.

I would only hail surverys very credible if they interview the 90M Pinoys.

^^grabe, census na yun. :lol:

Source: AFP

Gates donates 20 mln dollars to help rice farmers: institute

MANILA (AFP) — Bill Gates, the world's richest man, is to donate nearly 20 million dollars for research into helping rice farmers deal with global warming, the International Rice Research Institute said Monday.

The Philippines-based institute said it would use the donation from the Microsoft founder to harness scientific advances and address major unsolved problems in agriculture.

Continue (http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hbhnkHI2aAh6PscKM6zfBuZPUO-Q)

Eat veggies to prevent heart diseases (http://www.pia.gov.ph/?m=12&fi=p080220.htm&no=24&r=&y=&mo=)

Declining vegetable consumption among Filipinos is a contributory factor in the increasing incidence of cardiovascular diseases.

NNC-7 regional program coordinator Dr. Letlet Mission in this morning's Kapihan sa PIA that tackled on the celebration of February as 'Vegetable Awareness Month' bared cardiovascular diseases is the top killer disease in the country today. This is the primary reason why we chose February for the vegetable awareness celebration in order to coincide with the observance of Heart Month, Mission said.

Studies show that including at least three servings or more vegetables in the daily diet have been associated with reduced risk for micronutrient malnutrition and some forms of lifestyle-related non-communicable diseases such as cancer, heart diseases, diabetes and other chronic degenerative diseases, according to Mission.

Vegetables are sources of Vitamins C and A, thiamine, niacin, and folic acid, minerals such as iron and calcium, and dietary fiber, this is said.

The latest food consumption survey by the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) in 2003 showed that mean per capita day consumption of vegetables was at 110 grams or about 40 kg per capita per year only.

Mission said the decline in the quantity and quality of food intake including vegetables may have resulted to the continued existence of malnutrition especially among at-risk population groups.

But the NNC-7 program coordinator said the malnutrition incidence in Central Visayas has been waning for the last four years. In 2004, malnutrition rate in the region was recorded at 13.1 percent which decreased to 11 percent and further dropped to 9.78 percent while last year, incidence of malnutrition was registered at 8.93 percent, Mission declared.

The incidence rate however, only covered pre-school children from three to five years old.

The month-long celebration of vegetable awareness kicked off with a unity caravan dubbed "Kutay sa Utanon sa Kadalanan" spearheaded by the NNC-7 and other stakeholders to conduct vegetable planting in selected barangays in Cebu and Mandaue cities participated by pre-schoolers and their parents or guardians.

The little children are asked to plant two vegetables placed in each pot where one planted vegetable remains in the school nursery and the other one is brought back home to inculcate the importance of planting and eating vegetables, Mission said.

In Cebu, four cities have passed resolutions last year to declare every month of February as 'Vegetable Awareness Month' while Mission said she hopes other local government units would follow suit to highlight the critical importance of vegetables as part of a healthy diet.

^^^yes, indeed..and it's so very easy to grow!
http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i279/tonyboy32/00malunggay.jpg

walang malungay dito sa ta'te no

^^ We have it down here in Florida Tigs. We have a couple of plants in our backyard garden, and we also find them in other Asian grocery stores.

I miss tinola with real malunggay and green papaya.

^^ We have it down here in Florida Tigs. We have a couple of plants in our backyard garden, and we also find them in other Asian grocery stores.
masarap yan dun sa sinigang nA sa sapsap e
send me some you know my address:lol:

da best ang malunggay sa guisadong munggo.

^^manic friday:lol:

da best ang malunggay sa guisadong munggo.

pano mo igigisa ang mongo? diba ang tigas nun? :rock:

^^You soak it in water first (others lightly boil it, basta kahit anung technique involving water). Ganun ang technique, para mag-crack yung hard surface at lumabas yung uber-delicious earthy filling nito.

^^ yup. tapos ilalaga ang munggo.

primary source of protien ng ilocano ang munggo, kaya bihira ang matatabang ilocano. pero ang lalakas.

sus, nuong may mga laborer ako na ilocano inggit na inggit ako sa wan-kata nila.

Ututin nga lang :lol:

Based on the people I know in Metro Manila:

1. Many are dying of colon cancer.
2. Meat is the preferred diet, vegetable and even fish dishes are somewhat considered for the "low class".

This trend is of course contrary to the West where fish and vegetable consumption is considered as healthy (thou obesity is still a major problem in many 1st world countries).

Questions:

1. Is what is happening in Metro Manila holds true for the provinces?
2. What is the Department of Health doing with regards to low vegetable consumption and seemingly high colon cancer incidents in the country?
3. Why isn't the government promoting more fish and vegetable consumption in the country?
4. What can we do to promote more fish and veggie eating?
5. How can we make fish and veggies more affordable especially to the residents of Metro Manila?

6. What do you think is the long term effect to the residents of Metro Manila of the following two:

a.) Daily exposure to carcinogenics coming mainly from smoke belching "killer buses"
b.) Low consumption of relatively "expensive" and not so fresh vegetables

madyo mahirap kasi makipagsapalaran sa gulay sa maynila.

may formalin kasi ang veggies. i can only tell if tomatoes have been formalined (hard on the outside, squishy in the inside) but not the other veggies.

actually, pang mayaman na lang ang vegetables :). organically grown veggies from the supermarts lang ang safe.

kapag sa palengke ka bumili ng gulay, hindi ka sigurado. baka lalong umigsi buhay mo. :lol:

kapag sa palengke ka bumili ng gulay, hindi ka sigurado. baka lalong umigsi buhay mo. :lol:

hehehhehehehehe :lol:

While this may sound funny, it is a very serious issue.

I know of many people who would turn a blind eye on issues of corrution and all those evil immoralities happening around in the government in the Philippines; but government inaction on things like food...it's just unacceptable???!!!!! I mean how many Filipinos out there are spending their hard earned money on buying fruits and vegetables for their children only to realize later on that they are actually feeding their kids carcinogenic poisons???

What's the government doing on these?
How about the local governments and the authorities?

we also have the highest rate of breast cancer in Asia.
Probably due again to the fatty and oily diet.

^^


What is the Department of Health doing?

Can't they even launch a simple campaign to educate or remind Filipinos on how to prevent these conditions?

The Filipinos are probably better off without these departments considering they are costing the taxpayers money but are as useless as Michael Jackson's appendix.

^^ yup. tapos ilalaga ang munggo.

primary source of protien ng ilocano ang munggo, kaya bihira ang matatabang ilocano. pero ang lalakas.

sus, nuong may mga laborer ako na ilocano inggit na inggit ako sa wan-kata nila.

Ututin nga lang :lol:

okay yan kapag bata-bata kapa, pero sa mga advanced in age na ilocano matindi magpalala ng rheuma at arthristis.

probably only Ilocanos have a high consumption of veggies:)

dinuguan lang ata ang walang veggies. sa pakbet nga eh masmaraming veggies kesa karne.

but it's not suprising that ilocano dishes are prepared with veggies. kapitbahay nila eh nagproproduce ng veggies.

pati kangkong inaadobo. sabi nga nga tita ko, kapag nagluluto siya ng putahe , hindi kami masyado kumakain..pero kapag adobong kangkong, kinakain raw namin. Hahaha

filipinos may still eat pork, pero ang problema sa putahe natin eh masyadong ginagamitan ng lard. ilambong niyo nalang kasi yung karne. masmalambot pa.

^^ sa bayan ninyo ba ang nagluluto ng "pinikpikan" style na manok ?

^^ that's a highland cooking style. tawag rin ay "killing me softly" kasi pinapalo na stick yung buhay na manok hanggang mamamatay, yan daw ang nagpapasarap kasi namamahay yung dugo sa katawan. nakalusot ito sa Animal Welfare Act kasi cultural something daw ito.

@nabartek, 'ilaga' kamo nalang. baka hindi maintindihan yang word na 'lambong.'

How does it taste like? A bit sweet?

I've always wondered how it would taste. I'm thinking it would be like a tinola. I found one site which features it, but the spelling of some of the words is different, hence my reluctance to try the recipe :)

http://members.tripod.com/~daoey/index.html

^^ that's a highland cooking style. tawag rin ay "killing me softly" kasi pinapalo na stick yung buhay na manok hanggang mamamatay, yan daw ang nagpapasarap kasi namamahay yung dugo sa katawan. nakalusot ito sa Animal Welfare Act kasi cultural something daw ito.

@nabartek, 'ilaga' kamo nalang. baka hindi maintindihan yang word na 'lambong.'


i prefer inlambong. haha. kasi yun popular na 'nilaga' dishes eh lumulutang sa mantika. hindi pinapalutang ng mga native highlanders ang karne nila sa mantika. lol.

How does it taste like? A bit sweet?

I've always wondered how it would taste. I'm thinking it would be like a tinola. I found one site which features it, but the spelling of some of the words is different, hence my reluctance to try the recipe :)

http://members.tripod.com/~daoey/index.html

ang hirap i-explain ng lasa...yung manok sa tinola kina-cald, yung manok naman sa pinikpikan naman eh sinusunog...kaya medyo may lasang sunog yung sabaw, tingin ko yung ang nagpapasarap. also, mas masarap ang native chicken kapag sinabawan ang luto.

i prefer inlambong. haha. kasi yun popular na 'nilaga' dishes eh lumulutang sa mantika. hindi pinapalutang ng mga native highlanders ang karne nila sa mantika. lol.

oo pala, ang 'lambong' style eh yung sandali lang pinapakuluan. gaya ng baka kapag matagal nakasalang eh mas tumitigas. ang inila-lambong lang kasi sa ilocos eh yung mga greens/veggies; kapag red meat naman eh 'kinigtut' (ginulat) ang tawag, gaya ng kilawin.

bakit niyo naman 'kigkigtuten'(literally) yung red meat. Haha. Joke.

madyo mahirap kasi makipagsapalaran sa gulay sa maynila.

may formalin kasi ang veggies. i can only tell if tomatoes have been formalined (hard on the outside, squishy in the inside) but not the other veggies. :




how common do you think this practice is?

i'd say it's somewhat widespread in the metro manila area (at least in the case of tomatoes, which is the only vegetable that i can diagnose as having been dosed with formalin.)

vegetables rot easily in our tropical clime.

just wash the veggies well na lang siguro, since formalin is soluble in water, it can be washed off. (but of course not the formalin that has been absorbed by the food stuff :))

in defense of our vendors and planters, it's the viajeros who make the farmers dip the produce in the formalin solution.

^^paano malaman pag meron formalin ang gulay:ohno:

how common do you think this practice is?

they apply kerosene on the tomatoes to make it shiny. and sometimes they wash it with shampoo. they think it can also help preserve the tomato without frigidaire.

UN: More Pinoys could go hungry due to rising food prices
ABS-CBN News
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=111504

More Filipinos could go hungry this year as the market price of rice soars out of reach of ordinary households, a country director of the United Nations World Food Program revealed Friday.

Valerie Guarnieri, WFP Country Director for the Philippines, said the Philippine government could end up spending more to subsidize prices of rice as world food prices go up.

"Rice sales in the Philippines are traditionally subsidized. The question will be whether the government will be able to maintain the current levels the lowest grade rice is sold at and/or increase it only marginally and at what cost because that would mean incurring further debt in order to maintain those low prices," she told ABS-CBN News Channel.

"I think it's a very difficult situation but one which the government is looking at and has the means, if it can control the prices, of addressing at least in the short to medium term. If the prices continue to rise then all bets are off," she added.

She said food prices globally have risen by at least 40 percent, which translates to a $500 million increase in WFP costs to support an average of 90 million people around the world per year. The UN agency now provides food aid to about 1.1 million of the Philippines' 90 million people.

Guarnieri warned that the increase in food prices could lead to more hunger incidence in the country, particularly in Mindanao island where some of the country's poorest provinces are located.

She said that according to WFP research, 70 percent of total expenditures of a poor household in Mindanao goes to food. "When you think of being poor and spending 70 percent of your money on food, you're really not in the position to accommodate any price increase and that is something that has to be watched very carefully," she added.

Lower priority

Guarnieri said the UN was unlikely to ramp up its food aid to the Philippines immediately since it is considered a "middle-income country" with lower priority.

She said rising oil prices and climate change are contributing to food scarcity and a rise in prices of basic commodities globally. Other factors that affect food prices are increased food demand from nations such as China and India and a trend towards biofuel production, which affects crops normally used for food.

She said the Philippines is relatively safe from the increase in world food prices since most of its food products is sourced locally. She added, however, that the government could have a problem in sourcing 15 percent of the country's total rice consumption requirement for the year, which is usually imported.

Earlier this year, President Arroyo went outside normal commercial channels to ask Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung about securing rice, an exceptional move that highlighted growing global anxiety over how nations will feed their people as commodity prices climb.

The Vietnamese government, however, said it will ship only one million tons of rice to the Philippines this year, which is more than a quarter less than last year.

"This is a wake-up call," Robert Zeigler, director general of the Philippines-based International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), told Reuters. "We have a crisis brewing in terms of rice supply."

Because of the expected shortfall, the IRRI has pushed for a repeat of the Green Revolution - a 13-year Philippine government program which introduced high yield varieties of rice to increase yearly output by 42 percent.

Nearly half the planet's 6.6 billion people depend on rice to survive but rising populations and economic growth mean that the world is already eating more of the grain than is harvested.

World stocks of the grain are currently around 72 million tons, their lowest levels since the early- to mid-1970s when food shortages triggered a devastating famine in Bangladesh.

Zeigler said other importing nations in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia could also be at risk and as soon as this year.

"When you have a president calling a prime minister asking them to guarantee rice supplies it’s a possibility, that's for sure," said Zeigler.

No increase in food prices yet

The Philippine government on Friday assured that prices of basic commodities would remain at their current levels as costs of rice, cooking oil and pork increased over the past weeks.

“What consumers can expect within the coming weeks is to see the prices at its levels today. After what I’ve heard from the very sector, for instance supply-wise, there should be no problem. Sa rice, the harvest will start next month. Between now and April, we don’t see any reason why the prices will further move up. We will watch it very, very closely with the Department of Agriculture," said Trade and Industry Secretary Peter Favila.

The Department of Agriculture said prices of commercial rice would no longer move beyond the P26-per-kilo level, noting that the harvest season in the country has begun. The price of pork, meanwhile, would also remain at P170 per kilo until April when supply is expected to normalize.

The department said chicken should cost P100 to P110 per kilo as it urged consumers not patronize vendors who are selling beyond this level.

The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said it will publish in the next two days on major broadsheets the suggested retail price of consumer goods.

The DTI also announced that it is planning to conduct inspections on dry and wet supermarkets to monitor the prices.

The Department of Energy, meanwhile, said it does not discount the possibility that fuel prices will go up over the weekend due to high oil prices in the international market.

Population & Poverty
Jorge Osit
Manila Bulletin
http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS20080316119049.html

The National Statistics Coordination Board (NSCB), perhaps without meaning to, put a damper on the much-vaunted economic gains posted in the last quarter of 2007 when it recently made public its survey showing 27.6 million Filipinos, or approximately one out of three Filipinos today, are living below poverty threshold.

It will be recalled that our GDP hit a 31-year-high economic growth of 7.3 last year, boosted by a 20-year low inflation of 2.8 percent, but with this wake-up call coming out in the first quarter of 2008 it cannot be helped if a sense of being let down pervades. Suddenly, like the whirlwind of unsettling events buffeting our nation, the rosy economic picture is shadowed by a cloud of uncertainty.

Quite interestingly, the NSCB announcement came at time when the center of political gravity or seat of power, Malacañang, is under siege by the political opposition and other civil society groups and thus a modicum of political correctness is expected from State functionaries and officials so as not to further heat up the already simmering political cauldron.

Regardless of the consequences, however, the NSCB top honchos led by secretary general Romulo Virola went full steam ahead in announcing the official data that a third of our population is mired in the morass of poverty. Although the disclosure of such a critical data tends to put in a bad light those holding the reins of power, the NSCB officials showed faithfulness to public trust by being beholden to our larger national interest.

Anyway, the painful truth revealed by the NSCB is obviously meant to attract attention of our national leadership in forging a common resolve to effectively address the specter of increasing poverty incidence. Considering that it is a matter of national interest, highlighting its urgency is almost a sacred public duty and the timing of its disclosure is as good as any.

Since the squabbles of our leaders have ushered in a season – a rare season in our national life uniquely preoccupied with searches for truth, then, we might as well weigh in on the issue of poverty incidence. Briefly stated, poverty remains the central development issue of our country and so far we have not developed a sustainable economic growth needed to reduce poverty to tolerable limits.

The truth is poverty and runaway population growth are intertwined and inherently inseparable. In a study titled "The Population-Poverty Nexus: The Philippines in Comparative East Asian Context," several factors such as graft and corruption, savings rate and governance were cited as reasons causing dismal performance of our economy. It stressed, however, that "population growth is much more significant and could worsen poverty if left unchecked."

The study showed that way back in 1975 the Philippines and Thailand were like peas in a pod in terms of population size and per capita GDP. However, in the year 2000, our population ballooned to 75 million in sharp contrast to Thailand’s 62 million. Moreover, Thailand complemented its low population growth rate with increasing per capita GDP, about 8 times compared to its 1975 level.

And what about us? Our per capita GDP grew a measly 2.6 times while our population growth rate of 2.36 percent a year weighed down the whole economy. There is no denying that rapidly increasing population strains our limited budgetary resources but had we followed Thailand’s declining population growth there could have been substantial savings in our education and health sectors.

In this connection, the study said: "These savings could have been spent instead on the agricultural sector where most of the country’s poor belong. With greater investments in agriculture, slower population growth, and a rise in income, rural poverty could decline by 70 percent and national poverty by 60%."

And this is one issue where both government and the Church conveniently play possum


________________________________________


Poverty in the middle of plenty
By Juan T. Gatbonton, Editorial Consultant
Manila Times
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/mar/17/yehey/top_stories/20080317top3.html

Can poverty worsen in an expanding economy? That’s what is apparently happening. Not only have everyday Filipinos not felt the supposed growth of the economy. Between 2004 and 2006, 700,000 families (3.5 million people) have actually fallen from the lower middleclass into downright poverty—as their incomes failed to keep pace with living costs.

Why has this happened? Senior officials from five past administrations who’ve banded against the Arroyo government deny outright that the economy’s starting to do well. They denounce government’s claims of gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2007 as being the “highest in 31 years” as no more than “public relations fakery.” And they cite “unprecedented inconsistencies in official statistics on growth, income and poverty that raise doubts about the reliability of the economic growth data.”

People not feeling growth

But we don’t really need to impugn the integrity of the professionals at our statistical agencies to figure out why ordinary people are not feeling the effects of growth.

Our economy still is as fragmented as our geography and our politics. Virtually alone among our neighbors, we still have two economies existing side by side—modern industries, haciendas, plantations and mines together with a subsistence sector.

We still have a “dual economy”—a relatively modern half based in Metro Manila and its satellite regions, and a traditional one, based on peasant agriculture, in the rest of the archipelago. And because there are only the weakest linkages between the two, the industrial economy can grow without substantially benefiting the people outside it.

In much of East Asia, rapid growth over these past 40 years has unified dual economies left over from the colonial period. Suharto’s Indonesia had a particularly good record in balancing interregional development between Java and the outer islands. But because we have been slow to ease mass poverty, we Filipinos still are divided—like Disraeli’s England of the 1850s—into two nations, “between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy.”

Highly concentrated growth

On gaining independence after World War II, the new countries sought initially to industrialize behind protective walls, financing development through the export of agricultural products. (Straw mushrooms had nearly as great a role for Taiwan as the silkworm industry had for Meiji Japan.) But in our country, the weak state lost control of the processes of the protectionist trade regime to the political and economic elite.

Consequently, when the global economy opened up again, it could not switch to labor-intensive exports as easily as its neighbors were able to do—because oligarchic interests had clustered around the protectionist strategy. Because its economy remained closed, the Philippines missed the “East Asian economic miracle” that set our vigorous neighbors on the road to prosperity.

Our basic policy mistake was to carry on import-substituting industrialization long after it had outlived its usefulness. By so doing, we reduced the linkages between agriculture and industry, constricted job opportunities, and concentrated the benefits of growth on the landowning, industrial, and political elite.

Until now, Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog account for well over half of all our manufacturing output and three-fifths of all the growth. In 2007, they were responsible for 61 percent of the economy’s expansion, but only 39 percent of all the jobs.

The economy’s fastest-growing components—overseas contract work and its domestic counterpart, business-process outsourcing (BPO)—are “enclave economies,” without organic linkages with the domestic economy. So is electronic-components assembly, which has become our predominant export industry.

While agriculture still employs over a third of all our workers, generates 15 percent of GDP—and nearly 70 percent of all the poor—it contributes less than a 10th of yearly growth. In 2004, the average farm household had only 1.8 hectares. It yields an average P16,650 in income—only a fifth of what the poor family needs to keep its head above water.

Jobs for the unemployable

Our biggest problem is how to employ 2.8 million undereducated and largely rural young people unable to fill the jobs the modern economy generates. Out of every 10 Filipinos who can’t find jobs, eight are between 15 to 34 years old, and most of them live in the countryside. Right now, their only hope lies in “make-work” programs in government projects, which local politicians dispense. Yet raising the poor from poverty is the only way of incorporating their families into the modern economy.

Despite robust overall growth, manufacturing output is actually dropping. Nor will opening up mining to foreign investors—which the Supreme Court has made possible—generate many low-skill jobs. Mining, too, is a capital-intensive enclave industry.

Meanwhile, the deployment of overseas contract workers is slowing down—although higher-skilled workers are leaving. More and more of them are computer professionals, doctors, nurses, engineers and architects. And already they send home the equivalent of almost 15 percent of our entire GDP.

Tourism offers the fastest potential for generating relatively low-skill jobs. Arrivals rose from 2.8 million in 2006 to 3.15 million in 2007. Government expects 3.62 million travelers in 2008—but in this sector, too, vested interests impede an all-out effort to generate the million jobs a year we need. Regulatory capture still hinders the efforts of economic reformers to open Philippine skies.


___________________________________


Growth fails to generate jobs
BY Ernesto B. Calucag, BusinessWorld Researcher
03/18/2008 | 11:20 PM

MANILA, Philippines - Despite higher-than-expected economic growth in the fourth quarter, a total of 2.68 million people found themselves without work in January, pushing the unemployment rate back to the 7% level from October’s 30-year low.

Unemployment worsened to 7.4% in January, from 6.3% in October, according to the National Statistics Office (NSO) which released its Philippine Labor Force Survey on Tuesday.

It was, however, a slight improvement from the 7.8% recorded in the same month last year.

From October to January, around 175,000 people were added to the ranks of the unemployed, showing that the economy had failed to create enough jobs for those actively seeking work, economists told BusinessWorld.

This was despite the strong 7.4% gross domestic product (GDP) growth recorded in the last quarter of 2007.

Employment generation significantly declined as only 150,000 jobs were created in the past 12 months to January, bringing the employment rate to 92.6% from 92.2% last year.

"A closer look at the data will fail to impress even the administration drumbeaters. Total net jobs created for the whole year was only 150,000, which was even lower than the corresponding figure of 483,000 in October 2007, and definitely way below the government’s target of one million jobs a year," University of Asia and the Pacific economist Victor Abola said.

National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director-General Augusto B. Santos admitted that job creation was below the 1.4-1.6 million yearly target in the Medium Term Philippine Development Plan. He said local companies’ hiring decisions had been affected by the global economic weakness.

"Employment in the manufacturing sector decreased by 2.6% as the weakness in the global economy and the strength of the peso sneaked in. This offsets the gains in the industry sector contributed mainly by the buoyant construction sector," Mr. Santos said in a statement.

The January survey showed the manufacturing sector having shed a total of 88,000 jobs over the one year period, and 99,000 in particular since October last year.

The service sector also lost 26,000 positions in the twelve months to January, offsetting the 153,000 new jobs created in the agriculture sector. The industry sector, meanwhile, added 22,000 as of January.

Of the estimated 33.7 million employed persons, about half (50.2%) were in the services sector, more than a third (35%) in agriculture and the rest (14.8%) in the industry sector.

Mr. Abola said the latest figures were "hardly conducive to a sustained growth" as more people opted to seek employment in the informal sector. Workers in the own-account and unpaid family workers now constitute 48.3% of the total labor force, from 46.6% in January last year.

"Another way of viewing the weak employment generation is that employers preferred to make their existing workers work longer rather than employ new people. This is reflected in the decline in the number of employed persons working less than 40 hours per week which was more than compensated for by the number working more than 40 hours," he said.

Underemployment thus improved to 18.9% from 21.5% a year ago. However, this was still a bit higher than the 18.1% chalked up in October.

The underemployed are defined as people who already have jobs but are looking for more employment to augment their income. Underemployed people are also those who are working less than 40 hours a week.

More people also chose to stay away from the labor market as the labor force participation rate reached only 63.4%, or 36.4 million people out of the estimated 57.4 million population 15 years and over. Last year’s rate was 64.8%.

In particular, about 1.3 million more people were not part of the labor force in January, more than the 1.2-million increase in the working age population.

"This reflects the quality of jobs that are being made available in the labor market. And it reflects in general the country’s jobless growth. Somehow, it confirms the increase in poverty incidence among Filipinos," Ateneo de Manila University economist Leonardo Lanzona said.

Among the regions, the National Capital Region had the highest unemployment rate of 12.5%. Among the jobless, five in every 10 were in the 15-25 year age group while three in 10 were aged 25-34. Around 40% of the unemployed had attained college level and 33.5% were high school graduates. - BusinessWorld

Source: AFP

Gates donates 20 mln dollars to help rice farmers: institute

MANILA (AFP) — Bill Gates, the world's richest man, is to donate nearly 20 million dollars for research into helping rice farmers deal with global warming, the International Rice Research Institute said Monday.

The Philippines-based institute said it would use the donation from the Microsoft founder to harness scientific advances and address major unsolved problems in agriculture.

Continue (http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5hbhnkHI2aAh6PscKM6zfBuZPUO-Q)


at least mababawi na yung nahurot ni joc joc bolante

Baka naman yung mga ininterview nila eh yung mga taong pinambili ng load yung baon kaya nagugutom. Hehehe.

Paano nila ginawa yung survey? Anong nasa questionaire?

"Are you hungry"[tapos msabay tanghali pa ginawa uyng survey.

Plus, surveys aren't really a representation. "sampling" lang siya. Kahit tanungin niyo yung math instructor ko.

I would only hail surverys very credible if they interview the 90M Pinoys.
mas credible ang sampling survey kesa population

at least mababawi na yung nahurot ni joc joc bolante


mas credible ang sampling survey kesa population

How can sampling be more credible than 'census'

Sampling: take 1000 people from a certain place in Payatas, take their opinions and then when it comes out of the media, they say 90% of Filipinos are hungry.

If you do your sampling among the Forbes Park residence, the 'sampling' in Payatas will be refuted.

then thats not a credible one
it should be across pnas and not one spot

^Kaya nga mascredible ang magiging results ng 'cenus' kesa sampling. Kasi that's the reality of sampling eh, especially in countries with big population. Napupunta sa isang lugar yung 'sampling'.

census usually do sampling

^If I'm not mistaken...bahay-bahay kapag census. kapag sampling more on random' na pagPpili.

Ganun nila dinidetermine ang population ng Pilipinas.

beleive me nde pedeng papilahin ang mga tao tapos e-head count masisira ang data
e pano na yung nasa liblib na lugar, katulad ng bundok o sa ibang isla nakatira
usually dinedetermine nila yearly sa birth certificate and death certificate , botohan, tapos meron pang comparison stat, stratified sampling etc. etc. so sampling is the best way. makaalis na nga at magwowork out pa hehehe

that's scary man, how common do you think that practice is?

what's our government doing regarding that cancer causing practice?

they apply kerosene on the tomatoes to make it shiny. and sometimes they wash it with shampoo. they think it can also help preserve the tomato without frigidaire.

Which places do this practice. Nakakatakot naman.

I remember what my Entrep instructor told in class. SOME veggie farmers in benguet add water in their potatoes para 'bumigat'.

Wah, nagrereklamo sila about sa mga galing sa China. Papaano naman hindi magiging ganun, imbes na taasan ang quality eh binababaan.

The horror

^^paano malaman pag meron formalin ang gulay:ohno:

I guess the only definite way to know is to grow your own veggies, for example Baguio sayotes which pretty much look like these below:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1101/1476197434_e142b68d31_o.jpg Photo by Peregrin (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindadevolder/1476197434/sizes/o/)
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2084/2322091626_665f392b0d_b.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3290/2322091392_fe22436407_b.jpgPhotos by JGB (http://www.flickr.com/photos/photard/2322091392/)

^^Chayotes

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2390/2197720714_176603f7ec_o.jpg Photo by Twinklebelle (http://www.flickr.com/photos/lipfreak/2197720714/)

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/103/297773227_8c657b008d.jpg?v=0Photo by kool.angot (http://www.flickr.com/photos/ails/297773227/)
^^My favorite recipe of high-fiber home grown Baguio sayote lightly sauteed or stewed with garlic and patis. :)

That's yummy...

Fusion kamote (http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/mar/16/yehey/opinion/20080316opi1.html)

National Rice Program Director Frisco Malabanan’s advice that Filipinos ought to consider eating kamote and corn, instead of or in addition to rice, is worth chewing on.

Malabanan said that while there is ample rice in the country, white corn, cassava, yam, kamote and other root crops are good substitutes in case of a shortage.

Kamote (sweet potato) is a high-value crop and kamote production is growing. Corn, not rice, is the main staple in many Visayan provinces, he said.

Many families are beginning to grow root crops in their backyard to save on their food bill and to diversify their diet, the number one rice farmer in the country added.

Meanwhile, the price of bigas is rising and rice stock is always lean, which explains why we, a country of rice growers, import rice every year and why we have asked Vietnam to increase its export to Manila in 2008.

Kamote, corn and yam are popularly used as desserts in homes and restaurants. There’s no reason why we can’t consume them as regular meals.

Corn is a daily favorite in Mexican homes. The lowly potato helped Ireland survive a terrible famine and is a major staple in that country.

Filipinos however prefer rice as the table centerpiece almost three times a day. They eat fried rice (sinangag) at breakfast in countless varieties: from tapsilog (tapa, itlog and fried rice) to porksilog (pork chop, itlog and fried rice).

Senior citizens remember that during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, they survived on crops they used to sneer at or consumed only on rare occasions.

Binatog was boiled corn (scraped from the cob) mixed with salt and crushed coconut meat eaten as regular meal.

Kastanyog was coconut meat roasted or deep-fried in coconut oil, crunchy and reliable as rice substitute.

It was popular to mix rice and corn, boil it, and have your fill. Bread was made from rice.

People learned to boil the heart and pith of the banana tree and to grow apulid (Chinese chestnut) as extender.

If Batangas barako coffee was not available, the Pinoys roasted rice and called it kapeng binusang mais.

Coconut oil served as cooking oil. For sugar, the Pinoys used the native panocha.

Adobong kangkong and talbos ng kamote (kamote tops) helped millions survive starvation.

The old reliable—lugao (congee)—alternated with rice champorado and mongo soup. For milk, infants lived on am, water from boiled rice or lugao spiked with fish.

Salt, panocha and the condiments (toyo, patis, bagoong) were indispensable because they substituted for viand.

Filipinos built bird traps, hunted frogs and learned to love the prodigious snails the Japanese troops introduced on the islands.

They learned how to live with air raids, aerial dogfights, unexpected visits from the enemy, and how to cook and eat on the run.

Kamote, kangkong, and kastanyog helped save the race as Filipinos learned to cope.

We are far from returning to the occupation days but the provident souls and families struck by rising food costs ought to digest Malabanan’s advice.

We can prepare, cook and eat kamote in many ways. The government and the restaurant association should hold a national contest on kamote cuisine. Fusion kamote or haute sweet potato should attract even the snobs.

census usually do sampling

Census is for all. Like iisa-isahin talaga 'yung members ng particular area, e.g. census of Philippine age brackets. Sampling is more on probability kaya hindi ganun ka-credible, like most of the SWS surveys. Kapag gagamit kasi ng census, mas matagal ang process and mas magastos. 'Yun nga lang, mas accurate kahit magastos.

beleive me nde pedeng papilahin ang mga tao tapos e-head count masisira ang data
e pano na yung nasa liblib na lugar, katulad ng bundok o sa ibang isla nakatira
usually dinedetermine nila yearly sa birth certificate and death certificate , botohan, tapos meron pang comparison stat, stratified sampling etc. etc. so sampling is the best way. makaalis na nga at magwowork out pa hehehe

When doing a census, a group doesn't need to go to all of the places in the Philippines. May ina-assign sila usually na kunin ang data sa isang lugar tapos ung kumuha ng data, ipapadala nila sa central location para kolektahin ang lahat ng data na nakuha.

When doing a census, a group doesn't need to go to all of the places in the Philippines. May ina-assign sila usually na kunin ang data sa isang lugar tapos ung kumuha ng data, ipapadala nila sa central location para kolektahin ang lahat ng data na nakuha.Correcto.

Arroyo vows to improve poor’s plight
Business World
http://www.bworld.com.ph/BW032008/content.php?id=072

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo yesterday likened the plight of the poor to the suffering of Jesus Christ as she vowed to curb corruption, poverty and crime to provide relief and uplift their lives.

"As we commemorate the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, we should think of our neighbors who are also suffering the way Christ did because of the sins of society," she said in her Lenten message.

"We have countrymen who are suffering because of violence, crime, hunger, sickness, illiteracy and poverty. In the spirit of the Holy Week, as one country, we should welcome them, feed them, clothe them, give them medicine, provide them education, and provide them a good life and bright future."

Mrs. Arroyo said Filipinos live in a time of "great moral challenges" but she assured that the government will fight for a strong economy to cut poverty.

"Beyond policies and programs, our people want leaders that are God-fearing, pro-poor, unafraid to make tough decisions, hardworking and loyal to the people of the nation. These are the values we live by. These are the values we expect to be judged on when we meet our Maker," she said.

"Let us pray for guidance so we can achieve national unity and renewal as we march towards peace and development."

The President and First Gentleman Jose Miguel T. Arroyo are spending the Lenten break at The Mansion, the presidential guest house, in Baguio City. She also visited Abra yesterday.

Coming financial crisis will make times much harder, warns economist
By LALA RIMANDO
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/topofthehour.aspx?StoryId=112594

Expect the coming months to be tough, warned an economics professor. And the tough times may start next month.

"It's going to be a hard year for us. Everyone will be affected. And the hurt will be deepest among the low-income families," Ernesto Pernia, a professor of economics at the University of the Philippines and former economic chief at the Asian Development Bank told abs-cbnnews.com/Newsbreak in an interview.

The United States, a major destination of our export products and the host of overseas Filipinos whose dollars account for half of total remittances to the country, is facing a looming economic recession or growth slowdown.

"We will probably start feeling the impact of the US slowdown by the second quarter, which is April to June, and up to the third quarter of 2008," added Pernia. "It also depends on how the US government stirs its economy. If they (US) don't recover by the third quarter, then most probably the Philippines will go through hard times the rest of 2008."

WORSE THAN 1997 ASIAN CRISIS

Pernia's prognosis describes a gloomy year never experienced by Filipinos in the past. Unlike the Asian crisis eleven years ago, which only hit Asian economies including the Philippines, this one is not just a regional financial crisis but a global one. "Brace yourself for difficult times ahead," Pernia cautions.

The US economy is feared to be entering either an economic recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth, or a growth slowdown, which is like putting on the brake to the superpower's economic growth to a point that it will decelerate to just less than one percent.

This will have an impact on all aspects of the Philippine economy—from generation of jobs to remittances to prices of basic goods.

LESS U.S. DEPENDENT

While we have become less dependent on the US as a buyer of our products for export—the US accounts for only 17 percent now, compared to up to 30 percent in the past—we are selling a wide range of finished products and raw materials from electronics to furniture to countries like Japan (about 20 percent of our exports), recently to China and Hongkong (about 27 percent), and to a small extent to Europe.

These countries also sell to the US. Thus, while analysts and economists were betting on the rise of other possible superpowers like China and India, the slowdown or the recession in the US shows how intimately intertwined they all are.

PESO-DOLLAR NOT BELOW P40

The impact of a slowing superpower to the Philippines will be pervasive, says Pernia.

Take the twin case of peso-dollar exchange rate and the remittances from overseas workers. The $12 billion annual remittances account for 12 percent of our gross domestic product, or the overall measure of the state of the local economy.

But despite the sharp weakening of the dollar, the peso has not been appreciating as much. The central bank has said it is allowing the market conditions to prevail.

OFWs STRETCHED TO THE LIMIT

Pernia believes that the capacity of the overseas Filipinos to remit money home is being stretched to the limit because the peso equivalent of their previous remittances is just too much for them.

"The income of these remitters is not elastic. They cannot just continue to catch up. In other words, they are reaching their limit, and they cannot catch up," explained Pernia.

The peso has lost about 30 percent of its value against the dollar since early last year.

In addition, Pernia thinks that the host countries of the OFWs are also feeling the pinch, so some of the OFWs might have not received their usual salary increases, or worse, have been laid off, or are just working part time now.

About 50 percent of total remittances to the Philippines come from US and Canada. As the economies of other major host countries—Europe, Japan, Singapore, Middle East, Taiwan, Hongkong, etc—also slow down, Pernia thinks remittances to the Philippines will also be affected.

Thus, while it has been earlier predicted by bankers that the peso-dollar exchange rate will reach P38, Pernia thinks otherwise. "My prognosis for the peso is that it will probably oscillate between P40 and P43 or 45. I don't think the peso will go below P40, especially with this slowdown in the world economy."

NOT ONE SPARED

Every aspect of the economy will be affected, Pernia warns.

Foreign direct investments might slow down, and US investors will most probably have a wait-and-see attitude, with the possibility that a new administration will take over by the end of the year. "Both companies and the US government may not resume their investment spending or export and import activities in the meantime."

THREAT TO BPOs

That's a threat to the likes of the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector, a popular job provider. American clients still account for a big chunk of those that local BPO companies currently serve. BPOs have been a major stimulus for other sectors like real estate, retail, transport, and consumer goods.

The real estate sector has boomed in the recent years because of office space needs of the growing number of BPOs setting up shop not only in Metro Manila, but in other cities, like Cebu. Residential properties, on the other hand, have also been growing, partly because OFWs and their families have bought 20 percent of the available supply.

Both sources—investments and remittances—now stand to be affected by the slowing global economy.

EVEN TOURISM

Even the tourism sector, which had a banner year in 2007 with more than three million tourism arrivals, stands to be affected too.

"One of the elements of tourism is how much spare income these foreigners have. They come from South Korea, the US, China, Japan, which will all be affected (by the global economic slowdown). Even balikbayans will most probably spend lesser money when and if they come home," Pernia said.

HOW DEEP AND LONG

Given that the economic slowdown is just around the corner, inevitably the next concern is how deep will the fall be and how long will it take for us to recover.

Pernia expects that compared to our Asian neighbors, the Philippines will take longer to recover.

He recalls the 1997 Asian crisis: "The economies of Thailand, South Korea, and Malaysia went through a sharp downturn. But they also had a sharp upturn. It was V-shaped: deep fall, but a quick recovery."

The Philippines still posted a positive growth during that time, though a miniscule 0.5 percent. "But our rebound was very slow," he explained. "Most probably it will be the same this time.

Pernia attributed this to the fact we have a consumption-led economy, which is dependent on whether there will be more job-generating investments soon, and if the OFWs are able to send more money home.

NEIGHBORS HAVE CUSHION

Our neighbors, on the other hand, will be able to cope better because they have a lot of "cushion" already. "The economies of Thailand, Malaysia, Korea, even the likes of Cambodia and Vietnam, have been growing steadily, some actually in double digits, even before the Asian crisis. They might slow down, but their growth surplus in the past has gone into their economic base, which is cushioning them now. Their economic base is already solid for a quick recovery."

The Philippines, meantime, has had long periods of growth deficits. "A 7.3 percent growth last year is just a flash-in-the-pan. During the last seven years with [President Gloria Arroyo], the average growth rate is only 4.7 percent. That's not enough." Pernia said.

Pernia also notes other problems that will hamper a fast recovery for us: "We have a baggage of high population rate, low savings rate, low tax collection, low science and technology base. Then of course there is corruption. There are a lot of things are not going to our favor in terms of higher growth path."

POOR WORST HIT

What lies ahead then?

If the Philippine economy will be severely affected by the US economy's slowdown or recession, causing people to lose their jobs and making prices of basic commodities and transportation cost unaffordable, will these be enough to trigger social unrest?

Surely, a drastic economic slowdown in the Philippines will hit the poor, especially those in the lowest 40 percent of income distribution. When a restless and restive population connects the dots and blames the allegedly corrupt government officials for their hunger and strife, a recipe for disaster might be in the offing.


_____________________________________


Expert warns of unrest as rice price soars in many countries
Agence France-Presse

LOS BAÑOS - As the price of rice hovers near record levels coupled with fears of a global slowdown, many poor countries face the specter of riots by hungry people, according to one of the world's leading rice experts.

Key producers India and Vietnam have both curtailed exports, sending some of the world's largest rice importers including the Philippines scrambling to procure supplies for their people.

Spot prices have recently hit more than 700 dollars a ton, more than three times the price of just five years to go.

Industry officials in Thailand, the world's top exporter, have warned that prices could soon rise to 1,000 dollars a ton.

Vietnam, the world's third-largest exporter of the grain, also faces the prospect of a return of the deadly crop disease that impacted heavily on its crop yield last year.

These are just some of the problems that keep Robert Zeigler, head of the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) up late at night.

Located at Los Baños, a university town south of Manila, IRRI is regarded as the one of the world's premier centers for rice research.

Looking out across paddy fields from his office, Zeigler quoted a Latin American saying: "When the price of rice rises, governments fall."

"If people don't have enough to eat and they don't have enough money to buy enough to eat, that translates frequently into social unrest," he told AFP in an interview.

"If you look at some of the changes that have taken place in governments in Asia over the last several decades, they have been associated with food shortages."

The Bangladesh cyclone, flooding in Java, a plague of pests and virus in Vietnam, and surging demand from explosive economic growth in China and India, the world's principal rice producers and consumers, have drained global stocks, the US-born expert said.

"I worry about Indonesia because they've been trying to source rice," Zeigler said.

"I'm concerned about just about every country in Africa, because they're all major rice importers and rice has become a staple. A few years ago, rice was a luxury for them."

New Delhi raised its export price recently to 750 dollars a ton while Vietnam has been "slow to release licenses for export" after blocking exports in mid-2007, Zeigler said.

He said there was a real threat of social unrest in Bangladesh as floods have virtually wiped out its entire rice harvest. And he warned: "It's not in India's national security and interest to have instability in Bangladesh."

Zeigler said recent supply shocks were being compounded by longer-term pressures as land is converted for houses and factories, while water is diverted for industrial use -- not to mention climate change.

When IRRI was established in 1960 it developed high-yielding, short-stemmed rice varieties which heralded the so-called Green Revolution, boosting global output, cutting food prices and lifting hundreds of millions of rice-eating Asians out of poverty.

But now there are two billion more people to feed on essentially the same area of farmland, Zeigler said.

Government investments in farm research and infrastructure, including irrigation, have plunged to "well under half" of pre-Green Revolution levels, he said.

"The world took abundant food for granted and ignored this whole set of factors that were coming into play."

Yield growth has also flattened out as populations have soared, and policymakers were blind-sided by the rise of the biofuels industry that took away more farm land, and grains themselves, from the food chain.

"Now we're paying the price of complacency," Zeigler said.

Rice crisis plus scandals may alter Arroyo's future
By Carmel Crimmins
ABS-CBN News
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/topofthehour.aspx?StoryId=112682

MANILA (Reuters) - For Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, already battling a corruption scandal, the price of rice could affect her political future.

Rice is more than just a food in the Philippines. It's eaten at breakfast, lunch and dinner, sometimes by itself.

The country's estimated 90 million people consume 33,000 tonnes per day and the government is trying to contain a surge in prices of the staple by securing guaranteed supplies.

DISCONTENT RISING

The cost of some local grains has risen more than 30 percent from a year ago and while there have been no signs of mass anger, consternation is beginning to set in.

"It's terrible, really terrible," said Ronnie Tecson, a father of four, perusing sacks of fragrant Thai rice as well as domestic grain at one of the biggest food markets in Manila.

Near him, vendors at the Nepa-Q market were using erasable markers to write up prices on boards. Indelible markers don't make any sense when costs climb so often.

"Some of the customers say, "Come on, help us out", said Annie Bernardo, a stall manager, describing pleas to reduce the prices. "If I say "No" they get angry and ask me what kind of person I am."

But consumer frustration, limited for now to raising eyebrows and voices at shopkeepers, can quickly escalate.

RICE A POLITICAL COMMODITY

Arroyo is worried that if prices suddenly spike or there is a rice shortage, people will take to the streets. Her government is moving to secure stocks now, ahead of a traditional lean period for local rice that lasts from July to September.

"Rice is a political commodity here," said Earl Parreno, an analyst at the Institute for Political and Electoral Reform.

"If there's a shortage, it would really heighten the anger of the people against the government."

The Philippines, one of the world's biggest buyers of rice, paid about $708 per tonne at a tender this month for imported rice, more than double what it paid six months ago.

Despite rising global prices, the government has bought about 1.2 million tonnes of rice out of the 1.8 million it says it will need to import to meet demand in 2008.

The National Food Authority (NFA), the grain purchasing arm of the government that spends billions of pesos every year subsidising rice to the public, is now one of the biggest drags on public finances, with net liabilities in 2006 of nearly 43 billion pesos ($1 billion).

But the NFA has only a limited impact. In local markets, traders often tell customers they are out of NFA rice, which is kept at 18.25 pesos a kilogram, forcing them to pay nearly 30 pesos per kg for other varieties.

RICE SHORTAGE AS RALLYING CRY

At the end of last month, government stocks were enough to last 9 days, below the average requirement of 15 days. During July to September the state aims to hold 30 days worth of stock.

Arroyo has assured Filipinos there is no threat of scarcity but her request to Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung last month to see if he could guarantee Manila up to 1.5 million tonnes of rice was exceptional and highlighted official concern.

Hanoi said it could only ensure a supply of 1 million tonnes.

This week, the government said it would ask fast-food chains to start offering half portions of rice to discourage people from over-ordering.

Arroyo's image has been battered by a kickbacks scandal and although support from the army and from allies in the House of Representatives should allow her to see out her term ending in 2010, a food crisis could alter the situation.

Filipinos have overthrown two presidents since 1986 through popular revolts. Opposition groups, who have been calling for Arroyo to go since 2005, would be quick to seize upon rice shortages as a rallying cry.

POPULATION GROWTH TOO FAST

The Philippines, which is aiming to produce 17 million tonnes of unmilled rice this year, has a long-term goal of self-sufficiency but rising harvests cannot keep pace with one of Asia's fastest growing populations.

Three babies are born every minute in this largely Catholic country but Arroyo is unlikely to change her staunch opposition to artificial contraception at a time when the support of politically powerful bishops is so crucial.

The former economist is proud of her financial record with economic growth hitting a 31-year high of 7.3 percent in 2007. But inflation has recently been climbing, undercutting some of the benefits.

Florencio Rutagines, an electrician whose dollar earnings from years of working on a cruise ship are being gobbled up by a rising local currency and inflation, said his family could never cut back on rice.

"A Greek colleague once said to me; I know Filipinos, no rice, no power," he said as he finished lunch at a Jollibee fast-food outlet in Manila.

And Arroyo knows it too.


______________________________________


Politics of poverty in the Philippines
By Joel D Adriano

MANILA - Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo frequently deflects from her mounting political troubles by drawing attention to her alleged economic accomplishments, including buoyant gross domestic product (GDP) growth of 7.3% last year, the fastest such expansion in 31 years.

Since assuming the premiership in 2001, Arroyo has overseen consistently faster growth than previous recent administrations. Her advisors like to note that average annual GDP growth has been 4.9% under Arroyo's near seven-year tenure, comparing favorably with the 4.1% average seen under president Corazon Aquino and 3.1% under Fidel Ramos.

However, those statistics overlook the inconvenient truth that economic growth has wholly failed to buoy the country's massive poor population and instead has disproportionately lifted the country's entrenched elite - from which Arroyo's family famously hails.

The state-run National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) showed in its latest poverty survey released this month that the number of "poor" Filipinos grew from 23.8 million in 2003 to 27.6 million in 2006. Government officials have only reluctantly acknowledged the increase in poverty, despite the fact that the survey's summary findings were first released last October.

The survey also concluded that average family income fell by 2.7% over the period from 2003 to 2006 and the number of "food-poor" individuals - those who cannot regularly afford to buy even basic foodstuffs - jumped 14% over the same period. According to the survey's findings, one out of every three Filipinos is "poor", while over 51% of fisherfolk and 47% of farmers live below the poverty line.

The statistics fly in the face of the Arroyo administration's claims that the government's pro-growth policies have actually reduced poverty levels - though the premier has stood steadfast behind her earlier pronouncements. Cabinet secretary Ricardo Saludo insists poverty levels have fallen by 4.8% between 2000 and 2006, though it's unclear whose statistics he is citing. To underscore that party line, Arroyo's government has recently launched a series of television advertorials, replete with grassroots testimonials from people who claim to have benefited from recent economic growth, to counter the findings.

Some economic analysts say those upbeat assessments are more spin than reality, fudged by the government lowering the statistical threshold of what it means to be poor. According to the latest government measure, a family of five falls under the poverty line if it earns the peso equivalent of US$157 per month, meaning each family member must get by on just over a US dollar a day, or the average cost of one meal.

If that threshold is increased to $2 a day per person, the World Bank somewhat conservatively estimates that 40% of Filipinos are now living below the poverty line.

The real poverty rate, some local researchers contend, could be even higher than the NSCB figures indicate. According to Rosario Bella Guzman, executive director of the think-tank IBON, nearly 72% of Filipinos surveyed by her organization last year considered themselves poor.

So if the Philippine economy is growing at such high speed, why are the benefits not trickling down to the masses? In part that's because Arroyo's economic policies, as with previous administrations, have often been designed to favor a handful of big business and landowning families. Her government, for instance, has failed due to legal technicalities to implement meaningful land reforms, initially aimed at redistributing huge tracts of land from rich to poor.

Arroyo has surrounded herself with business cronies and loyal supporters rather than tackling competition-promoting structural reforms which would allow for more equitable and broad-based economic growth. While her government has issued a series of directives aimed at cutting bureaucracy, curbing corruption and addressing other red-tape and barriers to doing businesses, nothing concrete has been done to force open long-monopolized local markets.

That's skewed growth in favor of the rich over the poor and raises hard questions about sustainability, some economists say. Alessandro Magnoli Bocchi, the World Bank's senior economist for the East Asian and Pacific Region, has noted the country has broken with conventional economic wisdom in accomplishing fast GDP growth simultaneous with a real decline in investment and a slowdown in export growth.

Economic ironies
That irony is a disturbing reflection of stubborn structural imbalances in the local economy. About 60% of all economic activity in the Philippines arises from the informal sector, according to the Philippine Institute of Development Studies, a think-tank. Statistically, that includes the approximate $15 billion that enters the economy from overseas workers' remittances, which in turn powers consumer spending and more recently a mini-boom in real estate and construction.

Michael Clancy, chairman and chief executive officer of the Philippine Business Leaders Forum, recently warned that recent buoyant economic growth derives mainly from consumption, which is artificially skewed by remittances. "Take [remittances] out of the equation and domestic consumption would just about collapse. To build a Philippines that is genuinely strong, it needs jobs and wealth generated within the domestic economy and that means foreign direct investment," Clancy said.

Meanwhile, the industrial sector employs a mere 15% of the national labor force, the smallest percentage in industrialized Southeast Asia according to World Bank statistics.

A recent study by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization showed that among the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Philippines has long lagged its regional neighbors in terms of industrial growth, which expanded only 7% over the period spanning 1990-2002.

In comparison, Malaysia grew 100%, Thailand 92% and China 356% over the same 12-year period. And that low investment trend, by and large, continues today: the World Bank estimates overall investment in the Philippines has been stagnant in real terms since the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis and as of 2006 had declined as a share of GDP to below 15% - low by regional standards.

Those low statistics are reflected in the country's consistent low rankings in attractiveness to foreign direct investments and competitiveness surveys, which give the Philippines low marks for its comparatively high labor, tax and electricity rates, as well as poorly maintained infrastructure and often inconsistent policies, regulations and laws relevant to foreign investors.

Without new foreign investments, there are precious few new well-paid jobs available outside of low-wage earning agriculture, fisheries, mining, basic back-office outsourcing and government service. As a result, unemployment has remained stubbornly high at over 10% throughout Arroyo's term. Meanwhile, underemployment had grown to 22.7% last year, up from 17.6% two years ago.

To bring those politically volatile figures down, Arroyo decided two years ago in a bizarre move to exclude those who have no employment and allegedly are not actively seeking jobs and those who depend fully on remittances sent by their families working overseas from the official labor force. With that statistical trick, her government estimated the unemployment rate was only 6.3% as of last October.

Meanwhile, the World Bank's Bocchi said the government's low investment rate, including in transport and education, has created bottlenecks for private investment. That means that lower income groups are not sharing proportionately the benefits of recent fast economic growth, which some economists estimate has actually widened rather than bridged income inequality levels, where the top 5% of Filipino households currently account for nearly one-third of the national income, while the poorest 20% fetch a mere 6% of the pie.

The Asian Development Bank recently suggested that cleaning up endemic corruption would go a long way towards improving the Philippines' creaky infrastructure, which it noted has suffered over the years from leakage and misappropriation of funds. According to World Bank estimates, some 20% of the government's annual budget is lost to corruption. (The government often points to a recent survey of businessmen conducted by the Social Weather Service which shows payment of bribes has steadily declined during her tenure.)

Last November, the multilateral lender caused a political furor after it froze a $232 million loan for a road project because of alleged corruption. World Bank vice president for the East Asia and Pacific Region, Jim Adams, said in a statement from Washington that between 2003 and 2006 it had rejected three successive biddings "because of strong signs of collusion and excessive pricing" within the Public Works Department, without naming any specific officials. Reaffirming that assessment, the independent Hong Kong-based Political and Economic Risk Consultancy stated in its annual survey of corruption released on March 10 that "for the second consecutive year, the Philippines has the dubious distinction of being the worst-rated country" in East Asia.

Given the numerous scandals now surrounding Arroyo's administration, including explosive charges that a top election official and her own husband received massive kickbacks on a state-tendered broadband Internet infrastructure deal tendered by the state to a Chinese company, corruption-busting clearly isn't at the top of her government's agenda. Meanwhile, even as the economy grows, the country's impoverished masses just get poorer.

Joel D Adriano is an independent consultant and award-winning freelance journalist. He was a sub-editor for the business section of The Manila Times and writes for Asean BizTimes, Entrepreneur Philippines, Masigasig and People's Tonight.

Source: Asia Times

With dwindling supplies, my sister told me today that she paid $1,500 for a 50 kilogram bag. I am not sure how this situation is going to play up in the coming days.

Rice and Gloria
Daily Tribune Editorial
http://www.tribune.net.ph/commentary/20080326com1.html

All signs point to a serious rice crisis in the works.

As things stand today, despite Malacañang’s denials of a global rice shortage which is expected to bring about dire consequences on this rice-eating nation, there is, or will soon be, a shortage of rice in this country.

For one, Vietnam, from where the country imports cheap rice, has banned the export of its rice. Other Asian countries, including Vietnam that has bent over backwards to export, at lesser tonnage, rice to the Philippines, aren’t likely to sell their rice at giveaway prices.

Already, the price of cheap rice bundled as NFA rice, will be priced per kilo at P10 higher, a price that the poor, who subsist on rice as their main meal mixed with instant noodles, can hardly afford.

Still, despite the signs, Gloria Arroyo says there is no rice shortage, only an increase in rice prices, but why increase prices if there is no shortage in the first place?

But her solution to this is subsidized prices, which will eventually make a big dent on the national coffers. Besides, one can only go so far on subsidies.

And even at subsidized prices, this is still not a solution, given that there may no longer be cheap rice that can be had.

There will soon be a real rice shortage and even with subsidized prices, that shortage will certainly carry with it serious political repercussions for Gloria and her administration. Rice has always been a political commodity in this country.

This very nearly toppled Fidel Ramos and his government, although at that time, it was not a importation problem but of stupidity on his government’s part, as his agriculture secretary had not made in time arrangements for the rice stock.

But if there won’t be any shortage in rice, why are Gloria and her aides then asking Filipinos to eat less rice, eat brown rice and even call on restaurants to serve their customers a half order of rice?

It is pretty stupid for a government to ask people to eat less rice, especially since there are too many poor people in this country who can hardly afford to eat three full meals a day, let alone two full meals, consisting of rice with a bit of fish sauce or noodles, with a two day old unfrozen fish, which may even be considered a luxurious meal for the poor.

At this time, the poor are lucky to be able to afford a pack of rice to feed the entire family members, and even luckier to afford the high rice of LPG to cook their rice with.

As for the restaurants doing their bit for the rice shortage by serving half-cups of rice to their customers, this too, is silly. Those who go to the restaurants for their meals can afford to pay for them, unlike the poor who have to rely on cheap and almost inedible rice to keep body and soul together.

All those “solutions” being offered by Malacañang in addressing the rice shortage are really no different from the American anti-China propaganda during the long cold war. The line then went this way: Eat up all the rice — every cooked grain of it — in one’s plate, as there are starving people in China.

It’s stupid, since the rice that is left one’s plate was hardly going to go all the way to China to feed the starving Chinese — if they were starving at all.

In much the same way, serving half cup rice to paying customers in restaurants won’t make a dent in the supply of cheap rice.

Filipinos fill their stomachs with rice more than the viands to keep them going. Telling them to eat less rice is not going to change things, nor will this be a solution to the rice shortage problem.

Gloria and her aides screwed up, and they know it. The irony of it all is that they in Malacañang did everything they can against her critics and foes, for her to survive politically, only to have the rice crisis as her political downfall — which won’t be caused by the political opposition or the rebel military and other critics, but by the poor and hungry Filipino people who will want their share of rice.

The problem starts when long queues for cheap rice begins.

Opposition warned against exploiting rice price problem
Ben R. Rosario
Manila Bulletin
http://www.mb.com.ph/MAIN20080326120256.html

The chairman of the House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture yesterday cautioned the opposition against transforming the current rice price problem into a political issue against the Arroyo government, saying that this would only exacerbate the prevailing crisis.

Palawan Rep. Abraham Mitra aired this warning as Butil party-list Rep. Leonila Chavez, head of the House Special Committee on Food Security, proposed the revival of Masagana 99 rice production program that was implemented during the Martial Law years by then President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

Chavez said intensive government support by providing credit, irrigation, and strong technical assistance to rice farmers were the key solution to the rice shortage crisis that hit the country during that time.

Mitra said rice supply shortage is not the problem that is confronting the nation today.

The senior administration solon stressed that surging rice prices is the issue although this should be welcome because hiking the cost of the staple would make rice farming a "profitable proposition" to rural folks in agricultural provinces.

Mitra said the rice situation should be handled carefully, adding that opposition groups should be cautioned against making a "political hay" out of the problem.

"Politics could fuel speculation. And if that happens, then who will be the traders best friend and the consumers worst enemy other than headline hunter who would fan the issue?" Mitra said.

He said it is politically advisable for critics of the Arroyo government not to "tinker with the so-called public psychology of rice."

"There are some things we do not do, like shouting "Fire!" on a crowded theater or going to town saying that there is a rice shortage," he said.

Mitra said oppositionists should content themselves with government’s claim that there are sufficient rice stock.

"If they still doubt that, then they can travel to the countryside and see for themselves that people are planting or harvesting rice. They can literally pass on highways of palay, on roads where palay are dried. This is not Ethiopia where a drought has parched the land," he said.

Mitra noted that a slight adjustment in the prices of rice will allow farmers to earn more income, and stop selling their produce at a loss, and give them the purchasing power to buy goods and services, from clothes, electrical appliances, to education.

It's time to bring out the mais.

Hindi problema sa bisaya yan, mahilig kami sa mais :)

(hirap lang iluto)

^Matagal iluto..masmatagal pa sa kanin at ulam. LOL

With dwindling supplies, my sister told me today that she paid $1,500 for a 50 kilogram bag. I am not sure how this situation is going to play up in the coming days.

$1,500??? 40 times the Php1,500 that my mom paid for a 50 kg bag!?!? grabe naman, malamang typo error yan ano??

^^

Limited rice supply will force price rise, warn farmers
Daily Tribune
http://www.tribune.net.ph/headlines/20080327hed3.html

Farmers yesterday warned of a worsening rice crisis and said prices were expected to soar amid an expected lean harvest next month.

Based on their estimates, production output would only be 1.9 million metric tons that would last only two months, Jimmy Tadeo, chairman of the National Rice Farmer’s Council, noted.

The same period last year saw production in excess of two million metric tons but “there was no global shortage then,” he stressed.

Tadeo said he expects the price of rice per kilo will go as high as P40 from the present P18 during the traditional “lean months” from July to September.

Tadeo called on farmers to put aside some of their har-vests for personal consump-tions because they too will be hit by prices that “will be more unbearable for them.”

Rice, the staple food for 90 million Filipinos, is a political commodity in the country and any fluctuations in price and shortages in supply could potentially touch off unrest, analysts warned.

The government this week announced it was importing rice from neighboring Asian countries amid a global supply crunch.

President Arroyo has acknowledged the country was a “price-sensitive nation” and ordered raids against rice hoarders in a bid to keep the prices steady.

But Jessica Cantos of the local Rice Watch and Action Network, a group tracking developments in the farm sector, said government must instead focus on helping farmers modernize for bigger yields instead of relying on imports.

She said the government must also buy “rice directly from rice farmers at prices higher than the trader’s offer” instead of letting its rice-buying arm negotiate with middle men.

Meanwhile, Sen. Francis Escudero yesterday said the government spending for rice imports could hit P58.7 billion, and the cost of subsidizing cheap rice sold by the National Food Authority (NFA) could reach P21.7 billion.

“That is if rice which costs around P29.40 a kilo to import will continue to be sold by NFA retailers at P18.50 per kilo,” he stressed.

According to the lawmaker, the P10.90-per kilo difference will be the “political premium” the Arroyo administration will have to pay to prevent the perceived lack of the main food of 90 million Filipinos from exploding into a crisis fatal to an already faltering government.

If imported rice will cost $707 per metric ton, which was what the government paid for the 335,000 metric tons it bought this month, then the two million metric tons government plans to bring in this year will cost P58.7 billion, based on a P41.50 to $1 exchange, which is still higher than the official forex forecast.

Of this amount only P37 billion can be recouped, “assuming completely zero trading, storage and transport losses,” Escudero said.

The estimated import price tag, he added, assumes no tax or duty paid, which is 40 percent of imported value under the country’s commitments with the World Trade Organization.

Escudero, however, doubted if duties will be fully waived as tax payments on rice imports bloat the tax effort and make for a beautiful revenue report card.

He said estimates that the P58.7 billion required to import rice is equivalent to what we can collect from value-added tax (VAT) on fuel this year.

“Taxes collected on the gas pump will just be swapped for rice. The rise in the world prices of rice, which translates into bigger corporate subsidy for NFA, was never factored in this year’s expenditures,” he said.

As a result, the plan to have a balance budget this year “is in peril,” Escudero warned.

“It’s either a balanced budget or a balanced diet. In this clash of policies, I predict the ‘politics of the stomach’ to win hands down.”

Faced by a growing population, global tight supply, and low productivity, the Philippines, the world’s biggest rice importer, is scrounging for crumbs left in the world rice market to avert a shortage.

With rice stocks at their lowest in the past 20 years, Senate Majority Leader Francis Pangilinan challenged Malacañang to “stop painting a rosy picture of the situation” and immediately institute long-term solutions to the looming rice crisis.

“Malacañang asserts confidence in the current situation because the Philippines is supposedly reliant only on 15 percent rice imports, and is 85 percent self-sufficient on local rice production. But if these rice-exporting countries do not plan to supply us in the next six months due to shortage in their own supplies, how do we plan to boost our production? How do we ensure that Filipinos will have adequate rice supply as the rest of the world battles with the shortage,” he asked.

Senate President Manuel Villar Jr., for his part, said the looming rice crisis brings to fore the needed reforms that have to be implemented in the agriculture sector, including the system giving the NFA the sole responsibility to import rice into the country.

“This exclusivity clause that authorizes only the NFA to import rice has to be repealed. Attended by allegations of corruption, the system no longer works and has to be reformed to include other sectors of society,” he stressed.

In filing Senate Bill 1897, Villar said the authority of importing rice should be given to farmer cooperatives and organizations as “a way to increase their income.”

“The farming sector has always been at the receiving end of any importation as this tends to dampen or lower the price of palay resulting in no or low income for our farmers. If their collective organization is given the privilege of doing rice importation, they are given an opportunity to earn additional income,” he added.

The measure also proposes to put NFA funds to use only in purchasing locally produced palay or farmer imports for food security requirements of the country, he added.


_________________________________________


Rice imports biggest in 10 years
Malaya
http://www.malaya.com.ph/mar27/news2.htm

THE government plans to import up to 2.2 million tons of rice for this year in what could be the biggest overseas purchase of the national staple in a decade.

Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap yesterday said the government was looking to buy 1.8 million tons to 2.2 million tons of rice for this year, up from an earlier 1.6-1.8 million tons as it tries to secure supplies amid soaring prices.

Prices of commercial rice range from P26 to P33 a kilo. Rice from the National Food Authority sells for P18.25 a kilo.

"This will all be very sufficient for the NFA to ensure that there will be food security in the coming months, especially the lean months," Yap said, after signing a supply agreement with Vietnam on the sidelines of the Philippine Development Forum.

"I'm not worried about 2008; we're going to have the supply. I'm worried about 2009," he added.

The supply agreement signed by Yap and Vietnamese Industry Minister Yu Huy Hoang specified up to 1.5 million tons, but Hanoi has previously said it could only guarantee Manila 1 million tons of rice this year.

The government has already imported about 700,000-800,000 tons of Vietnamese rice this year.

The agreement's framework is valid for three years and would be automatically renewed for another three years unless either country objected.

Yap said under the agreement, the Vietnamese government agrees to sell, "unless under circumstances of natural disaster and harvest loss, and the Philippines agrees to buy, up to 1.5 million metric tons of Vietnamese white rice annually starting year 2008, subject to market and production conditions and to terms allowable under applicable laws of both countries."

"We'll try to sell to the Philippines as much as we can," said Ambassador Xu Xuan Pruong.

Yap said the Vietnamese commitment will be complemented by the move of the United States' Department of Agriculture to increase the Philippines' credit commodity program from $65 million to $75 million this year, which he said will pave the way for an additional 100,000 tons of US rice.

The Philippines was one of the world's top importers of rice last year, with purchases of nearly 1.9 million tons, almost three-quarters of which came from Vietnam. It imported 2.4 million tons of rice in 1998 during the Asian financial crisis.

So far, the government has bought about 1.2 million tons of rice for this year and aims to increase domestic production of unmilled rice to a record 17.32 million tons, up 7 percent from last year.


MORE RICE LANDS

Yap said for next year he was going to increase the amount of land devoted to rice production. But even with rising local harvests, the output is not enough to keep up with a rapidly expanding population of three babies born every minute.

The soaring cost of rice has also helped push annual inflation to a 16-month high of 5.4 percent and put a real strain on the poor, who make up the bulk of the Philippines' 90 million people and rely on the grain to survive.

President Arroyo has taken a personal interest in the country's rice supplies for fear a shortage in-between harvests in the third quarter could spell political trouble for her


P50 A KILO

Several Luzon-based rice farmers groups warned that rice could reach P40 to P50 a kilo in July because of trading manipulations.

The groups said the expected palay harvest next month, pegged at 1.9 million metric tons, will last for only two months.

Jimmy Tadeo, chairman of the National Rice Farmers Council, said traders would "definitely take advantage of the limited supply while the government will be dependent on the imported rice for its buffer stock."

Jessica Reyes-Cantos, lead convenor of the Rice Watch and Action Network (R1), said reports of tightening global supply of rice have pushed local prices "abnormally high even as the harvest season is still headed for its peak this April."

The groups noted that traders buy palay at P12 to 16 per kilo while the NFA is still buying the grain at P10 per kilo.

"With this lopsided participation of NFA, we will not be surprised if the traders who bring the rice to the market are able to command the prices of this basic commodity and will be able to set the prices when the supply further tightens in July to September," said Trinidad Domingo, chairwoman of the Pambansang Koalisyon ng Kababaihan sa Kanayunan and a rice farmer from Nueva Ecija.


UNBEARABLE PRICES

Tadeo said government was not even able to help the farmers cope with the rising cost of petroleum-based farm inputs and even has promoted chemical farming instead of training farmers to be more self-reliant and go organic to reduce their production cost.

"We are calling on the farmers to hold on to their palay and leave some for their household consumption so they will not buy rice for their own needs especially in the coming months when the prices will be more unbearable for them," said Tadeo.


FOREGONE SUBSIDY

Sen. Francis Escudero said government spending for imported rice to prevent a shortage would reach P58.7 billion this year, P21.7 billion of which would be in foregone subsidy.

Escudero explained that if the imported rice costs around P29.40 a kilo and will be sold by NFA retailers at P18.50 per kilo, the P10.90 per kilo difference will be the "political premium" the Arroyo administration will have to pay to offset the perceived lack of rice.

Government paid $707 per ton for the 335,000 metric tons it bought this month. This means the 2 million metric tons government plans to bring in this year will cost P58.7 billion, based on a P41.50 to $1 exchange, which is still higher than the official forex forecast, he said.

Of this amount only P37 billion can be recouped, "assuming completely zero trading, storage and transport losses," Escudero said.

The estimated import price tag, Escudero said, assumes no tax or duty paid, which is 40 percent of imported value under the country's WTO commitments, a rate which, however, can be waived if food shortage is invoked.


EQUIVALENT TO VAT

Escudero estimated that the P58.7 billion required to import rice is equivalent to what government can collect from the value-added tax (VAT) on fuel this year.

"To give you an idea how big it is, it's bigger than the budget of the AFP or the PNP, and five times the allocation for DOH," he said.

"Taxes collected at the gas pump will just be swapped for rice. The rise in the world prices of rice, which translates into bigger corporate subsidy for NFA, was never factored in this year's expenditures," he said.

As a result, the plan to have a balanced budget this year "is in peril," he said.

"It's either a balanced budget or a balanced diet. In this clash of policies, I predict the 'politics of the stomach' to win hands down," he added.

Arroyo's HK visit to cost taxpayers at least P2-M
03/27/2008 | 10:07 PM
MANILA, Philippines - While surveys show that more Filipino families are experiencing hunger, President Gloria Mapacagal Arroyo is “squandering" about P2 million “to spew out lies and project false support of overseas Filipinos to her crumbling administration" when she goes to Hong Kong on Sunday.

“Isn’t this shameless and callous," asked Eman Villanueva, spokesperson of the Gloria Step down Movement – Hong Kong (GSM-HK) during a picket rally at the Philippine Consulate General on Thursday.

The group has been calling on Filipinos in Hong Kong to boycott the events Mrs. Arroyo is attending, particularly her meeting with the Filipino community at Tiffin Lounge of the Grand Hyatt Hotel.

Villanueva said Arroyo’s visit was a “squander of people’s money" in the face of a rice shortage in the Philippines.

“We are made destitute by this government with its rampant corruption of public resources. Distressed overseas Filipinos are left to fend for themselves. Now we will starve to death while GMA comes here wasting about half a million HK dollars to try to fool OFWs and entice us to bleed more money for her self-serving purpose," he said in a statement on Thursday.

GSM-HK estimated that the cost of GMA’s appearance before OFWs at the plush Grand Hyatt Hotel on Sunday, March 30, will reach about P1 million while another million will be spent for the three-day expenses of the presidential entourage.

Villanueva said the government even sent in advance personnel from the Office of External Affairs under the Office of the President just to check the preparations for the Sunday event.

Based on their inquiry at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, the cost of the hotel’s facilities are the following: Tiffin Lounge where Arroyo will meet OFWs – HK$450 (P2,550) per head or HK$90,000 (P450,000) for a maximum of 200 people; reservation for the function room for 160 people – HK$140,000 (P700,000) while dining is at HK$1,100 (P5,500) per head.

The group estimated that Arroyo’s stay in HK, based on going rate for posh hotels, at HK$15,000 (P75,000), her entourage of at least 30 people will need about HK$180,000 (P900,000) at a rate of HK$2,000 per person each day.

Villanueva said the cost estimates may even be conservative considering Arroyo’s “penchant for lavish traveling."

“With the rice shortage, recent oil price hike, and the general economic crisis, only a president that has complete disregard of the people’s plight can spend P2 million with wanton abandon," Villanueva said.

Villanueva reported that the news of serious rice shortage in the country and the increase in prices of rice is a grave concern for overseas Filipinos who are the main breadwinners of their families.

“We are already contending with low wages and the continuing slide of the dollar. The rice shortage will further impinge on our already tight budget. When will the Arroyo government stop heaving one calamity after another to us?" he said.

GSM-HK said its members will not duped into accepting the offer of the government to buy stocks or invest in order to cope with the current economic crisis.

“Our remittance and the payments we give to government fees are already being plundered or are used to replace money stolen from other public sources. We will not let GMA touch our hard-earned money that is barely enough to sustain the basic needs of our families," he stated.

Villanueva criticized the Philippine consulate general in Hong Kong for its “preparation frenzy to make GMA happy."

“It is condemnable for the PCG-HK to pool resources and manpower for the useless meeting with GMA while they cannot even find time and effort to answer the repeated requests of OFW groups here for a Leader’s Forum to discuss pressing concerns. Like GMA, government officials here have revealed their true priorities and these are definitely not our rights and wellbeing," he said

Villanueva said the rice crisis will surely fire up the outrage of overseas Filipinos reeling from economic hardships and the neglect and irresponsibility of the government. He said that they will intensify their campaign to urge OFWs to join the March 30 rally.

“Now it is even clearer that GMA’s continued rule and corruption shall spell death for us. This time, by hunger," he said. – GMANews

Govt to boost asset sales to fund higher spending
Manila Standard
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=news3_mar29_2008

THE Philippines may sell more assets than planned or increase domestic borrowing to finance additional spending, an official said yesterday.

“The focus today is on targeted spending on social services and infrastructure,” Finance Secretary Gary Teves told reporters in Clark, Pampanga.

He did not say why the government needed to spend more, but Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya said on Wednesday more spending was needed to sustain economic growth.

He said the government might miss its goal of balancing its budget this year to boost growth amid the US slowdown, and to increase farm production to counter rising food prices.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific says the Philippine economy is poised to grow 6.7 percent this year despite the US recession.

It says that growth—marginally down from 7.3 percent in 2007—will be supported by strong domestic demand, investment and government consumption.

“The Philippines is expected to see robust private consumption as a result of booming remittances,” the UN agency said in its Economic Survey for Asia and the Pacific 2008.

It says the Philippines’ 6.7-percent expansion will be faster than Indonesia’s 6.2 percent, Malaysia’s 5.8 percent, Singapore’s 4.9 percent, and Vietnam’s 4.9 percent.

But it will be slower than Vietnam’s 8.2 percent growth, China’s 10.7 percent, and India’s 9.0 percent.

Another UN agency says rapid urbanization in Asia and the Pacific has driven up poverty in many countries including the Philippines.

An increase in urbanization aids growth but it also pushes up urban poverty, says the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific.

It says the year 2008 represents a turning point in human geography because, for the first time in history, there are more people living in cities than in rural areas.

“This growth in Asia and the Pacific is having a knock-on effect,” said Pietro Gennari, head of the agency’s Statistics Division.

“We’re seeing more and more people living in slums and also a negative effect on people’s ability to access clean water and sanitation in the urban areas.”

Gennari says two out of five urban dwellers in Asia and the Pacific live in slums compared with three out of five in Africa—although this is notably higher than the 33-percent prevailing in Latin America and the Caribbean.

“This urbanization and the increase in the number of people living in slums are largely responsible for a decrease in urban access to improved water sources in Asia and the Pacific since 1990,” Gennari said.

“Countries with high access rates in the 1990s, such as China, Indonesia and the Philippines, have all recorded a fall in the proportion of the urban population with access to improved sources of water.”

Still waiting for 'trickle-down,' 'social payback'
BY REGINA BENGCO
Malaya
http://www.malaya.com.ph/apr01/news3.htm

TWO in three Filipinos (66 percent) yesterday said the economy worsened in the last three years, Pulse Asia said in its Feb. 21-March 8 survey.

The survey had 1,200 respondents.

Seventy-one percent or about 12.8 million families said they are very poor/poor. It was the same level in July and October 2007 (75 percent and 68 percent, respectively).

Nearly six in 10 Filipinos (59 percent) said their personal quality of life worsened in the past year, a sentiment expressed by 48 to 68 percent of respondents in all geographic areas and socio-economic classes.

Only 10 percent said their lives are better off while 31 percent said there was no change in the past 12 months.

On the national quality of life, 71 percent believe that the lives of their countrymen became worse in the past 12 months, a view shared by 65 percent in Luzon to 81 percent in Mindanao.

Only 6 percent believe that the national quality of life improved while 23 percent said it was unchanged.

Only 11 percent said the economy is better now than in 2005 while 23 percent said it was the same.

Deputy presidential spokesman Anthony Golez said the survey results were negative because it was conducted while government was in the middle of corruption allegations.

He said government has been increasing its spending on basic services and infrastructure. "We expect to see a decline of our poverty rate with more people experiencing the fruits of our economic growth in the months and years to come," he said.

Cerge Remonde, Presidential Management Staff director general, said it "always takes time" for the benefits of economic growth to reach the masses, which is why it should be sustained.

The basic food commodities are shackled inside the warehouses of these traders and businessmen. Pinoy huwag kayo magpadaya sa mga traders na yan. Bulsa at sikmura na ninyo ang binubutas nila. Gusto lang nila pataasin ang presyo ng bilihin sa pamamagitan ng pagtago sa mga ito para ipalabas na may shortage.

The truth is there is no real rice shortage. The traders and businessmen just want to create panic to drastically increase the cost of rice and other basic food commodities

Naka tambak ang mga bigas, harina, mais, oil, at iba pang pagkain sa mga warehouse ng mga negosyante na mga buwaya.

Dapat inspeksyonin ang bawat isang warehouse na nangdadamot sa pagkain. Pati yung supply ng NHA inaangkin na nila.

Cops grill vice-gov's kin for NFA rice at QC warehouse
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=113851


Police authorities raided another Quezon City warehouse suspected of hoarding government rice and questioned a relative of a Luzon vice-governor for the presence of grains from the National Food Authority being repacked there.

The raid in Vista Real Subdivision followed the operation on a warehouse in Muñoz district earlier where police seized 10,000 sacks of NFA rice.

This time, however, a brother of Pangasinan Vice-Governor Marlyn Primicias Agabas was identified as suspect after police found several empty sacks of NFA rice at the warehouse.

NFA representatives collected samples from the rice in stock to check if they were products of illegal packaging.

The warehouse in Vista Real is owned by Roger Agabas.

The suspect, however, denied any wrongdoing.

"What you see here is legal. I you want, I have a store, you can check it out. I sell NFA rice there," he said.

Police earlier seized more than 10,000 sacks of rice from a warehouse in Parkway Village in Quezon City owned by a Chinese-Filipino couple believed to be engaged in hoarding grains.

Warehouse owners Jerry and Margaret Cua were also suspected of repacking rice from the NFA which are then allegedly sold at commercial prices.

The Cuas denied the accusation.

"The sacks were bought to be used for palay,” said Jerry.

Aside from illegally repacking NFA rice, the couple could face hoarding charges for the bulk of grains they have been keeping.

The raids followed orders on police to arrest rice hoarders and illegal traders as the country struggles to cope with rising prices of the key food staple.

Police will be deployed to warehouses owned by the NFA, the state rice-importing agency, to prevent any pilfering by rogue traders.

The move is aimed at pre-empting the "impact on peace and order of price rises not only in rice but other basic commodities," police said.

President Arroyo this week said she will negotiate for more rice shipments from Thailand and other neighboring countries to avert a possible supply crisis during the lean months from July to September.

Analysts and farmer groups have said traders hoarding the grain could also force the retail price of the grain to artificially rise. With a report from Agence France-Presse

Task force vs rice hoarders formed
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/04032008/headlines03.html
By Joel R. San Juan and Rene Acosta
Reporters

THE Department of Justice (DOJ) yesterday created its own Anti-Rice Hoarding Task Force (ARHTF) to assist the National Food Authority (NFA) in going after rice hoarders and those engaged in overpricing and other related crimes.

Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez named Senior State Prosecutor Roberto Lao as chairman of the task force, with prosecuting attorney Rhodora Salazar, state prosecutors Nestor Lazara, Philip de la Cruz and Romeo Galvez as members.

In an interview, Gonzalez said the creation of the task force is in line with the need to speedily institute measures to stop and prevent rice hoarding and related crimes, which can be considered acts of economic sabotage.

He said the task force would handle inquest proceedings, preliminary investigation and prosecution of all cases relating to unlawful acts or omissions inimical to the preservation and protection of the country’s rice supply under Section 29 of Presidential Decree 4, as amended, as well as the provision of other penal statutes and related laws.”

The Justice secretary said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) would render the appropriate resource and groundwork assistance to the ARHTF.

“The ARHTF is, likewise, hereby authorized to directly coordinate and seek the assistance of other law enforcement and administrative agencies for purposes of facilitating the investigation, resolution and prosecution of such cases,” the memorandum stated.

Gonzalez has already directed the task force to verify reports whether the NFA in Central Visayas has suspended the rice allocation of 21 accredited retailers in Cebu province which were found to have committed violations in the distribution and sale of government rice, such as overpricing, unreasonable depletion of stocks, nondisplay and refusal to sell stocks to consumers.

The DOJ chief also asked the ARHTF to summon personalities involved in the raid at the Inter-City Industrial Estate in Bocaue, Bulacan, which houses 115 warehouses, each containing 25,000 to 40,000 sacks of rice.

The area purportedly supplies 65 percent of the country’s rice demand.

Meanwhile, Gonzalez brushed off claims made by leftist groups claiming that the government is the one hoarding the country’s rice supply.

“Why would the government hoard when we are buying 1.5 million metric tons of rice from Vietnam and negotiating with Thailand to buy more?” Gonzalez added.

Also to ensure that rice supplies would reach their target clients without delay, Gonzalez said that the Army, through the orders of the Department of National Defense, has already agreed to lend to the NFA some 200 trucks to assist and facilitate delivery.

At the same time, the Philippine National Police (PNP) has alerted all its police regional offices and national support units to go after rice hoarders and illegal traders who are diverting government-subsidized rice to commercial markets.

In a memorandum circulated to all PNP units, Chief Superintendent Silverio Alarcio Jr., PNP director for operations, said police action is being initiated “to preempt the possible impact on peace and order of the increase in prices of rice and other basic commodities.”

Alarcio ordered regional directors to closely coordinate with the local offices of the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Department of Agriculture (DA), the NFA and local government units in monitoring the prices of basic commodities, especially rice and other food products.

The PNP units were instructed to arrest and investigate individuals who are engaged in unauthorized remilling of rice and the rebagging of NFA grain products.

Police units will also provide security to rice-storage facilities, government food warehouses and NFA-accredited rice warehouses against possible pilferage, and to prevent NFA rice from being diverted to the commercial market by unscrupulous traders.

“If it is necessary that we should tail all trucks hauling NFA rice to ensure that the cargo does not end up in illegal warehouses, we will do that and hit hard on the hoarders who are causing this artificial crisis,” Alarcio said.

The DTI attributes the “artificial shortage” and rising prices of commercial rice to high fuel prices, lower production due to global warming, rising demand due to over population and the 150-percent increase in the price of fertilizers.

PNP spokesman Senior Supt. Nicanor Bartolome, said “the PNP is doing its share in normalizing the market situation and possibly mitigating the effects of rising prices of rice and other basic commodities.”

“The PNP fully supports the inter-agency campaign initiated by the DTI, DA, NFA, Neda [National Economic and Development Authority], and the National Price Coordinating Council to stabilize food prices,” he said.

The West is controlling your rice price
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/04032008/opinion02.html

Go to the Internet and google on “world rice shortage.” Most of the web sites carrying information about a shortage of rice is from our own local newspapers. However, a potential shortage of reasonably priced price is affecting communities from “Kansas to Kabul,” as one newspaper in Bangladesh described the problem.

Quoting from Asia News Network, the web site independent-bangladesh.com perhaps summarized the cause of the problem the best: “Worldwide, economists are worried that the diversion of agricultural land and certain crops to biofuel production is cutting into grain and cereal production for human consumption. The prices of rice and wheat are linked.” That last sentence is the key to the issue, something our local politicians have failed to understand.

Wheat prices are going to historic highs and will continue to climb. The best barometer of future commodity prices is the futures exchanges in the United States. There, the contract price for December 2008 delivery is higher than the current March 2008 price, forecasting rising prices through the end of the year.

And if wheat prices are to continue going up, then you can be sure that rice prices will track the wheat price trend.

I wrote in this column that one of the reasons we are not able to produce enough rice in the Philippines is government interference in the free-market system that would have allowed farmers to sell rice at a high enough price to invest in agricultural infrastructure.

While there is still a large group of people that believes the government is the answer to all problems, in fact, the government usually creates the problems that private enterprise must solve. Thirty years of government intervention in rice production has not solved the production problem.

National governments did not build the rail systems of Europe and the United States in the 1800s; private companies did. The Philippine government gave the nation the Philippine National Railway. Any chance that private enterprise might have done a better job? Globe, Smart and Sun put phones in 20 million Filipinos’ hands, not Malacañang or Congress.

And the interference of the US and European governments in the free market is what will drive rice prices up in the Philippines.

From the Environmental News Service: “The world is facing the most severe food-price inflation in history as grain and soybean prices climb to all-time highs. Wheat trading on the Chicago Board of Trade on December 17th breached the $10-per-bushel level for the first time ever. In mid-January, corn was trading over $5 per bushel, close to its historic high. And on January 11th, soybeans traded at $13.42 per bushel, the highest price ever recorded. All these prices are double those of a year or two ago. In Mexico, corn-meal prices are up 60 percent. In Pakistan, flour prices have doubled. China is facing rampant food price inflation, some of the worst in decades.” Why? At least “28 percent of the projected 2008 US grain harvest” will be used, not for food, but for fuel, biofuels.

If you subscribe to all the environmental hysteria, you might think that using biofuels is a good thing. But consider the consequences. “Projections by Profs. C. Ford Runge and Benjamin Senauer of the University of Minnesota four years ago showed the number of hungry and malnourished people decreasing from over 800 million to 625 million by 2025. But in early 2007, their update of these projections, taking into account the biofuels effect on world food prices, showed the number of hungry people climbing to 1.2 billion by 2025. That climb is already under way. The UN World Food Program (WFP), which is now supplying emergency food aid to 37 countries, is cutting shipments as prices soar. Whereas previous dramatic rises in world grain prices were weather-induced, this one is policy-induced.”

The reason for the dramatic rise in grain prices is government intervention. In an attempt to reduce the use of crude oil coming primarily from the Middle East, Western governments mandated the use of biofuels, savagely interfering in the free market. But these governments took one more disastrous step toward food scarcity. They subsidize the noncompetitive price of ethanol-based fuel. Because of government subsidies for biofuels production, corn farmers in the United States and in other countries can make more and more profits as the price of oil goes up.

We may think of rice as rice, meaning that rice prices live in a world of their own, controlled by the dastardly rice cartels and smugglers. Prices of basic food commodities are all connected. The free market allows adjustment in all countries.

In India, wheat and rice are almost equally important in the diet. Yet, because of rising wheat prices, Indians are eating more rice leading to higher prices. And the fact is the price of wheat, as with corn, is artificially high because of the artificial demand created by bad government policy.

E-mail comments to mangun@email.com.

Philippines Trails In Poverty Reduction, Says Un Report
By Chino S. Leyco Reporter
Manila Times
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/apr/03/yehey/top_stories/20080403top2.html

Social and economic development in the Philippines remains uneven and poverty continues to be characterized by widespread disparities across regions and population groups, a recent United Nations country team report said.

The report was presented last week to the Philippine Development Forum in Clark, Pampanga.

Compared with other East Asian and Southeast Asian neighbors, the report said, poverty reduction in the country has lagged far behind that of Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and China—countries that started with higher levels of poverty incidence than the Philippines but have successfully managed to lessen, if not virtually eliminate, extreme poverty.

According to the country team report, there were 27.6 million poor Filipinos in 2006, a 3.8-million increase from the 2003 data. Government statistics showed that the country’s population stood at 86 million as of 2007.

The highest poverty incidences, estimated at four times that of Metro Manila and accounting for one-third of the country’s total poor, are found in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Min*danao (ARMM), Bicol, Eastern Visayas and Western Mindanao.

“Poverty continues to be a rural phenomenon,” the UN report said. It added that two out of every three Filipinos live in rural areas and are dependent on agriculture.

“Poverty incidence among agricultural communities is roughly three times that of the rest of the population and the sector accounts for 60 percent of total poverty,” the country team report said.

Because of rural poverty, the report added, migration to urban areas has made the Philippines the fastest urbanizing country in Southeast Asia, with 55 million of its 86-million population, or 64 percent, living in urban areas. Thirty percent of the 64 percent live in slums.

As rural poverty incidence remains higher in absolute terms, the UN report said, urban poverty incidence increased from 17.9 percent in 1997 to 24.9 percent in 2003. Rural poverty incidence declined from 44.4 percent to 35.3 percent during the same period.

Rice shortage might be a problem if the government did not focus on it as early as now. Fortunately, the government is already addressing the issue before it becomes a burden to all of us. We can see a lot of retailer trucks all over the country selling kilos of rice for the consumption of the public.

Of course, the hoarders of rice supply should be apprehended. Our national staple should not be manipulated by some who wanted to profit more than they should have. It's really pitiful that others have to engage in such illegal acts.

The issue of rice shortage is just being used by politicians and media to incite public unrest. Of course, this is also a very advantageous scenario for unscrupulous traders.

Another crisis? (http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=jojoRobles_april1_2008)
Lowdown
Jojo Robles

Is there really a rice crisis? Can the situation now prevailing accurately be described as one of crisis proportions as far as the national staple is concerned?

Everyone knows what rice, the food of all Filipinos, is. As for “crisis,” my online Merriam-Webster defines it as “an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending; especially one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome.”

Make no mistake, there is no crisis as far as supply is concerned, at least for as far as the so-called premium varieties that continue to be readily available in all markets and that most people consume. What exists is a regime of rising prices, which has translated to a steady increase in the per kilo cost by an average of about 30 percent over the past year.

Thus, a kilo of rice that you used to buy for around P24 per kilo would now be worth around P28 to P30. Most authorities agree that the price increases are the result of spikes in the world market for this commodity, of which almost 20 percent of the total local supply (2 million tons of the total 12 million consumed annually) has to be imported because of the inability of our rice farmers to produce enough to feed the populace.

Because we are a net importer of rice, we are to a certain extent affected by the fluctuations of world prices of this commodity. Over the past year that we have seen local prices of the staple rise, prices abroad have increased from around $300 to $700 per metric ton. (In 2003, the price per metric ton in the world market was a mere $200.)

With shipping costs rising with oil prices and other factors like inclement weather, increased world demand and shrinking harvests coming into play, there’s even talk of rice nearing the $1,000 per metric ton level soon. That’s something like P40 per kilo for rice imported from Vietnam, Thailand and the other countries where the government sources our rice.

But why do we have to keep importing rice to begin with, especially since government agriculture authorities have been talking non-stop about increasing harvests in the countryside? Can’t self-sufficiency in this vital and politically charged commodity be achieved?

The short answer to first question is: Population growth is far outstripping gains in rice harvests. According to “101 Facts About Rice in the Philippines” compiled by V. Bruce J. Tolentino, Beulah de la Pena, Elcee Noveno, Benedicto Rayco and Irene Villapando, rice production in the past decade grew only by 1.9 percent annually on average, while population increased at a rate of 2.3 percent. In the next 25 years, the requirement for rice is expected to increase by at least 65 percent, according to the authors, which will make our dependence on imports even greater, unless yield improves dramatically.

Fortunately, and to answer the second question, even if population continues to increase at current levels, there is a lot of hope for harvests eventually catching up. Right now, most experts agree that last year’s gross production increase of 6.2 percent can continue, with most of the lands planted to rice now producing only an estimated one-fourth of maximum output.

The same experts agree that if only a fraction of the money used to subsidize rice through the purchases of the National Food Authority is spent to provide farmers with high-yield hybrid rice seedlings and other farm inputs at subsidized prices, self-sufficiency in rice can be achieved in the next couple of years, easily. That would dramatically reduce our dependence on imports that are expected to get more and more expensive because of increasing demand worldwide.

* * *

As far as the NFA is concerned, the government would do well to look into anomalies that have long been plaguing that agency. Over the years, the unavailability of the supposedly cheap rice bought and sold by the NFA has reached mythic proportions, despite the billions upon billions that the government is spending annually to subsidize the staple and to sell it at around P18 per kilo.

If it takes a so-called rice crisis to get the authorities to take a microscope to the operations of the NFA, then all of the hand-wringing will have been worthwhile. For the longest time, assuming people really wanted to find it, there just isn’t any NFA rice to be had for love or money; what passes for cheap rice in the markets is often unedible, as anyone who goes shopping for food will tell you.

What all this means is a total breakdown in the NFA’s procurement process, or the sale of rice bought cheaply with government (meaning taxpayer’s) money to dealers who pass it off as “premium” varieties. The hopelessly corrupted “passbook” system for rice dealers, which tracks regular withdrawals of NFA rice from government warehouses and the unavailability of these cheap stocks in the markets only means that they are being resold and repackaged as higher varieties by unscrupulous traders, most likely in connivance with employees and officials of the NFA itself.

Of course, the government is now going after the so-called rice cartels that have been long involved in this anomalous practice by investigating the NFA’s operations. Simultaneous moves to do away with the passbook system altogether and to sell one-kilo packages of NFA rice directly to consumers will also probably help cut down on the reselling of the government-subsidized commodity as expensive, regular varieties.

In the meantime, the recent securing of imports from countries like Vietnam (which has given a firm commitment to the Philippines to sell 1 million metric tons of rice immediately) will help stabilize local prices—which do have an unfortunate tendency of remaining at current levels even when the supply situation eases. All of which should prod the government to push for the use of subsidized high-yield hybrid varieties and more farm inputs and more and better irrigation facilities for the farmers, with the view of securing sufficiency in rice—and lower prices—in the long-term.

Given the issues involved in the production, pricing and procurement of rice, it’s interesting to note how some politicians have been riding the issue to score points against the Arroyo government—which didn’t invent the decades-old rice problem and which has done creditably well in trying to solve it, overall. But the attempts of the anti-Arroyos to use rice (a sensitive issue that hits a lot closer to home than things like a national broadband network) as a political battering ram are understandable.

These are the people who will attempt to fabricate any “an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs” to pursue the “decisive change” that they want, to return to the definition of a crisis. It doesn’t matter what the issue is: If it is “one with the distinct possibility of a highly undesirable outcome” that they desire, they will exploit it.

What we have can hardly be called a rice crisis. It’s just another attempt—futile, in all likelihood—to force a political crisis.

Friday, April 04, 2008


Rice hoarders facelife sentence–DOJ


Warehouse owners and traders in the Philippines found to be hoarding rice will be charged with “economic sabotage, which carries a life sentence, or plunder,” Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez said Thursday.

Plunder was punishable by death until President Gloria Arroyo outlawed capital punishment a few years ago.

The government, Gonzalez warned, could even file plunder charges against traders engaged in rice hoarding.

“If the amount [made from hoarding] reaches P50 million, it could be plunder [charges that are awaiting the hoarders]. Take the case of 11 warehouses in Bulacan [a province north of Manila where] each warehouse has 40 tons of rice. That’s why I told my panel to look into this again if there are public officials involved,” he said.

Gonzalez added that government agents had started swooping down on illegal rice traders in the central city of Cebu and that 111 other traders in Luzon, the country’s biggest group of islands, were also on his list.

Evidence was being gathered against unscrupulous traders, who also will be charged with economic sabotage.

“Our first initiative is to ask for the help of Filipinos who can give us information, because we are not here to witch-hunt,” Gonzalez told reporters.

He said he had ordered agents from the National Bureau of Investigation to “be very rigid in looking” for evidence.

President Gloria Arroyo had ordered the raids to help avert a rice shortage, the staple food for the country’s 86 million people, which could trigger social unrest.

She has also ordered huge imports of rice from neighboring countries such as Vietnam and Thailand, and cancelled permits to rice dealers reselling state-subsidized rice to avoid artificial price increases.

The moves angered rice dealers and distributors, who have threatened to stop selling rice across the archipelago.

Gonzalez said only rice hoarders were being targeted, and that traders and warehouse owners found to be “legit need not fear.”

“This is an emergency situation, [and] they should understand,” he added.

The President further ordered state universities and colleges to make their gymnasiums available for rice storing and prepare their vacant lands for palay demonstration farming.

She ordered, too, the Armed Forces to help deliver rice to far-flung and depressed areas by using their available cargo planes and trucks.

The Armed Forces will be fielding 400 trucks to take over from truckers complaining of delivery difficulties due to high costs, Gonzalez said.

“If we were using Army trucks, soldiers will no longer stop the truckers at checkpoints and will not pay fees or bribes to policemen manning the checkpoints. For instance, if the products come from Isabela [a province north of Manila], truckers complain that they have to incur heavy costs,” he added.

Gonzalez said they are already asking the help of Chinese-Filipino businessmen to prevent rice hoarding and go after unscrupulous traders.

“We are also trying to protect their interests [Tsinoy businessmen], so they should help us. In so far as the businessmen [are concerned], there’s no directive,” he added. “That is addressed to NFA [National Food Authority] and Department of Agriculture. My directive is prosecute, investigate and prosecute those hoarders.”

The government has not set any deadline and will continue its campaign against illegal trade until the prices of rice stabilize, Gonzalez said.

“This [campaign] is a continuing thing. We cannot have a deadline until prices of commodities stabilize. There are many factors in prices rising. Not because of hoarding, always, some because of inadequacies of farm-to-market roads, and the involvement of middle men who control prices,” he added.

Gonzalez appealed to traders and distributors, whose licenses were cancelled, not to proceed with their planned rice holiday.

“That is just temporarily [the cancellation] because the government wants to make sure that no licenses would be abused. That’s the situation now, and we hope they will understand that,” he said. The traders and distributors, instead of holding the holiday, Gonzalez added, should cooperate with the government.

He assured the public of enough rice supply.

“As of this point, there is no danger that we will lack rice. What we need is buffer good for three months. Right now, 57 days, there’s no danger. There will be harvest in May and lean months will come in June, July, and August,” Gonzalez said.

Rice is a politically sensitive commodity in the Philippines, one of the world’s largest importers of the grain, which households consume three times a day on average.
--Angelo S. Samonte, Ira Karen Apanay and AFP


http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/apr/04/yehey/top_stories/20080404top1.html

Brother clears Pangasinan vice gov's name over rice hoarding
04/04/2008 | 09:54 AM

DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines - A rice trader and brother of Pangasinan Vice Governor Marlyn Primicias-Agabas, called up the different local radio stations in the province to clarify the issue that had dragged his sister's name.

Roger Primicias of Scout Balara, Quezon City said the National Food Authority (NFA) did not raid his alleged warehouse as reported last Tuesday in a national television.

Primicias said they came to visit and verify a report, which they received about alleged NFA rice hoarding and repacking in his area.

He said it was also a coincidence that the vice governor and her husband were in Quezon City that time as they came to attend the burial of their grandmother.

He explained that he is an accredited NFA rice retailer, and the reported warehouse does not exist. What was visited by the NFA operatives was his residence where he stacks the commercial rice which cannot be accommodated at his rice store in the market.

He said it was not a raid but a mere visit to verify reports of hoarding or repacking of NFA rice.

"I want to clarify that my sister has nothing to do with this issue. This is my business," he said.

Primicias further said what the NFA personnel saw were seven empty sacks of NFA rice. The sacks of rice stacked at his residence were 80 cavans of commercial rice.

As to the presence of empty sacks of NFA rice, he said he is allowed to buy 25 cavans a week. Sometimes the empty sacks are left at his rice store, while some others he brought home.

He also denied hoarding rice as he said an NFA rice retailer has to personally show up at the NFA warehouse if he is going to buy stocks.

"One cannot buy rice if he does not personally pay and sign the receipt. And he is also escorted if he wants it to be delivered to his own store. If the storeowner is not there, his order will not be discharged. And the unloading of stocks is also monitored by four groups," he said.

Primicias said his sister's name could have been mentioned in the television report because she has a calendar at the place where the sacks of rice were stacked. Sun.Star (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/87674/Brother-clears-Pangasinan-vice-govs-name-over-rice-hoarding)

From dinabaw's posted article: Rice hoarders facelife sentence–DOJ

“This is an emergency situation, [and] they should understand,” he (Gonzales)added.

What is the emergency situation then? :lol: And how much tons of rice can legit dealers buy and sell?


The President further ordered state universities and colleges to make their gymnasiums available for rice storing and prepare their vacant lands for palay demonstration farming.

University Rice hoarding campus. :lol:


She ordered, too, the Armed Forces to help deliver rice to far-flung and depressed areas by using their available cargo planes and trucks.

The Armed Forces will be fielding 400 trucks to take over from truckers complaining of delivery difficulties due to high costs, Gonzalez said.

“If we were using Army trucks, soldiers will no longer stop the truckers at checkpoints and will not pay fees or bribes to policemen manning the checkpoints. For instance, if the products come from Isabela [a province north of Manila], truckers complain that they have to incur heavy costs,” he added.

Why not arrest those kotongs since you admitted that they exist and are making the cost higher.


Gonzalez said they are already asking the help of Chinese-Filipino businessmen to prevent rice hoarding and go after unscrupulous traders.

pssst....some of my paisanos are into that business, just tell them to stop hoarding.

Reminds me when two or three years ago, the price of vegetables skyrocketed in Manila because of the sensationalized issue about frost bites in Benguet.

The media plays a critical role here I believe. It's how they deliver the news. The media gave the impression that as if all places in Benguet were affected by frost bites. Yun pala, some barangays lang in Atok and Bugias(due to their high elevation) which are not even major producers of vegetables. The major producer of vegetables is the capitol, La Trinidad which was not affected by frost bites at all.

See, irresponsibe journalism convinces corruption.

^^ But sometimes the media is just telling some truth, medyo may intriga lang ng konti. But that statement of Gonzales that I posted above had too much information that really says a lot.

That's the sad thing "sometimes'. Why can't they do it 'always'(or don't they want to?)?

The public is suffering because of their sensationalism. Just like what happened wit the frost bites issue

^^ Business kasi yan. Ethics just come in second.

These rice hoarders keep rice in warehouses and then mix it with the imported varieties and then sell it at higher prices in the market. This is another profit-making venture for businessmen who take advantage of their countrymen. It's time that these hoarders be identified to protect the public from this selfish acts of greedy businessmen in the Philippines. Rice dealers are now making noise telling the government that it should not blame the rice dealers on the topic of rice shortage. Who said there was rice shortage in the first place? Was it not the nonsense political opposition who is currently opening another field of controversy when in fact there is no issue, at all? This issue of rice crisis or rice shortage, whatever you want to call it, is just being used for the personal advantage of some Senators and ambitious politicians.

Isang rason din kanya din kulang ang bigas sa mundo eh kasi ang China at pati na India ang laki ng populasyon at di hamak na dahil sa kanilang umuunlad na ekonomiya eh nakaka-angat na sa kakayahang makakuha ng bigas sa world market na ipapakain sa kanilang mga mamamayan. Madaming supply ng bigas eh napupunta sa kanila at idagdag na ang pesteng tumama sa pananim ng Vietnam at Thailand, eh kanya kulang talaga ang supply ng bigas sa mundo ngayon. Tuloy di lang kulang sa bigas sa Pinas kundi eh napakamahal rin ang presyo ngayon. Kailangan talaga tayo mag-invest at magtanim ng mas maraming palay para lumaki ang ani ng bigas nang di tayo kapit patalim para lang huwag maubusan ng bigas na makain ng ating mamamayan gaya ng nangyayari ngayon.

^^
Parang masyadong unfair na i-blame lang sa laki ng populasyon ng China at India ang rice shortage. Hindi ko alam kung gaano kalaki ang iniimport ng China at India pero sa totoo lang, isang pahirap rin sa Pilipino yung napakalaking populasyon natin.

In the other thread I posted two articles pointing to our uncontrolled population growth. We are one of the top rice producers yet we are one of the biggest importers. We produce nearly twice as much as Thailand does yet we are import dependent(15% of our rice are imported). Also, we lack agricultural reforms, we have many open lands that can be used for farming especially in Central Luzon yet nakatiwangwang lang sila

Kulang na ang ating magsasaka. Their generations are getting slim, most of them would rather see their children to work in the industrialized area and even abroad to find a good paying job. Sa amin lang sa Bikol, ilang lupain ang na convert na sa subdivision or commercial zone.
We started to import rice around 1983 ~ and so on because of calamities, bad land management and lack of irrigation and some anomalies in the government.
Nuong panahon ni Erap, he proudly announce that we can even export rice in 2002-3, ewan na kung ano nangyari duon after he got booted out.

Yup totoo yan malaki talaga ang ating populasyon kaso ang masakit eh napakadaming mahirap na mamamayan kumpara sa mga nakaka-angat sa buhay kanya hindi rin makayang makabili ng pagkain lalo na ngayong kulang ang supply at sobrang mahal ng bilihin dahil na rin sa inflation. Kailangan talaga eh sariling sikap. Kailangan tayo mag-invest ulit sa agrikultura at magtanim ng mas maraming palay para lumaki ang ani ng bigas nang di tayo kapit patalim para lang huwag maubusan ng bigas na makain ng ating mamamayan gaya ng nangyayari ngayon.


Rice crisis traced to low productivity, high pop'n growth
By LALA RIMANDO
abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=113334

The Arroyo administration needs to invest in farmers’ productivity and raise their level of profitability to be competitive, a leading agricultural economist said.

Arsenio Balisacan, former agriculture secretary and currently professor of economics at the University of the Philippines, and director of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research in Agriculture, told abs-cbnNEWS.com/Newsbreak that government has to invest in appropriate irrigation systems for the farmers and link them up with the markets.

“There is no way we can get our farmers out of poverty and be competitive in the world if we don’t invest in their productivity,” Balisacan said.

He added that government needs professionals in the agriculture bureaucracy “who can appreciate and support continuity of programs.”

Balisacan traced the roots of the current rice crisis to the country’s fast growing population and low productivity. This is exacerbated by the soaring food prices worldwide.

“Demand for food is growing fast not because our incomes are growing -- our incomes have not been growing as fast as our neighbors, so we have not shifted to other crops – but because our population is growing at 2.3 percent a year. That’s almost two million additional mouths to feed every year,” he said.

“Our agricultural land is fixed. So the only way to catch up if we want the price of rice to remain stable is to increase productivity on a sustained basis. That means increasing farmers’ output with the same amount of inputs. You do that through investments in research and development, proper irrigation, proper understanding of the needs of the farmers,” Balisacan explained.


The rest of the interview follows:


What led us to this current rice situation?

This is a global problem, not only a local one. On the demand side, there are sharp increases in growing economies like India and China. As income rises, the usual consumption pattern is to shift to more expensive food like meat. It then pulled the price of wheat and then corn and soybeans, and other feedstock for animals.

Attracted by the higher price of these crops, farmers allocated more land for planting them, in the process eating up the land used for planting rice. So the price of rice also increased.

This sharp increase in food prices is unprecedented in the last 20 to 25 years. Four years ago, the world price for rice was in the order of $250 per metric ton. If we’re seeing $700 now, things are very serious.

The second factor is the price of energy, which affects the structural side of supply. Agriculture is supported by energy. The production of fertilizers, tractors, chemicals are all dependent on energy. Then the high price of oil encouraged substitutes so more are planting crops for biofuels instead of for food. There are also intermittent ones, like the drought in Australia, frost in Latin America, and other weather disturbances.


Why is the Philippines becoming an icon in discussions about the world food situation?

We are a major rice importer. And when exporting countries see a depletion of stocks, they see an opportunity to hold on to their stocks for now until they can sell it at a higher price. The world is reacting, and so is the Philippines.

Rice has remained our staple food. Demand for food is growing fast not because our incomes are growing -- our incomes have not been growing as fast as our neighbors, so we have not shifted to other crops – but because our population is growing at 2.3 percent a year. That’s almost two million additional mouths to feed every year.

Our agricultural land is fixed. So the only way to catch up if we want the price of rice to remain stable is to increase productivity on a sustained basis. That means increasing farmers’ output with the same amount of inputs. You do that through investments in research and development, proper irrigation, proper understanding of the needs of the farmers.


What should be done to increase and sustain farmers’ productivity?

We need to invest in research and development, and we need professionals in the agriculture bureaucracy who can appreciate and support continuity of programs.

For decades, we have not put enough money on developing technologies, in understanding and generating technologies that are responsive to the constraints raised by farmers. In some cases, the government has good intentions but unfortunately it does not understand how things work in practice.

The irony is that we know our problem. The scientific and economic communities have well studied the agricultural sector. There are so many studies with almost the same recommended solutions.

No way are we going to make our farmers get out of poverty and be competitive in the world if we don’t invest in their productivity. And that involves raising their level of profitability by investing in appropriate technology, getting the appropriate irrigation systems for them, getting those networks that they could link up to the markets.


What about having IRRI and the PhilRice in the country?

There is a wrong appreciation of what farming technology is all about. IRRI (International Resource Rice Institute) produces generic technologies. From IRRI, the foreigners do their own further tests at the country and regional levels.

Thailand, Indonesia, and Vietnam have been good at it. They come to IRRI, learn technology which they developed further in their own fields. They acclimatize the seeds and tinker with it until they develop a variety that is fitted and will survive under a particular stressful condition and the soil configurations in their own countries. That’s the role of our local version, the PhilRice (Philippine Rice Institute).

In the Philippines, we cannot have a rice program across the entire country. We’re an archipelago. The climate, soil, distance to market centers, presence of infrastructure support is very varied. Farming technology in Ilocos is not expected to work in Samar where there are always typhoons, or in Mindanao where there are no typhoons.

Agriculture is not like manufacturing where you produce in a self-contained environment. In agriculture, the agro-climatic conditions are varied, so the science community has to tinker.

Before modern genetic engineering, it usually takes 10 years to do develop one variety that can be commercialized. Now it has been shortened to three to five years. But our politicians and the bureaucracy are looking for immediate results because they stay only for three years.

We were early starters (in rice technology). Then we got distracted by political process and did not have the resolve of going back and start the building process again.

Besides, apart from R&D, there is also need to address the complementary issues like education, health, rural and irrigation development, lending. At this point, we are reaping years of neglect. These have caught up with us.


How much will these cost us?

There is no need for new money. It’s just a matter of re-orienting our ways of doing things. If we spend billions in subsidies that are never sustainable, why not use the same amount of money to develop research systems that are responsive to the needs of the farmers? These are all very doable.


You were in government once. Why are these not being addressed up to now?

There is little appreciation of investing for the long term. What has been happening in the past decades is patchwork.

Traditionally, the government would increase production by simply adding or increasing inputs, like subsidizing fertilizers and pesticides to induce farmers to increase production, subsidizing hybrid rice seeds, building big dams, giving output subsidy to the [National Food Authority], giving money for post-harvest facilities and cloud seeding. So yield may increase but only while the subsidies are there.

If there are no subsidies, the farmers shoulder the loss. In the end, these don’t necessarily translate into more income for the farmers.

It has been band-aid economics. The wound is still there. And the wound is now a cancer because we have identified this problem decades ago. This rice situation should be a wake up call to us. Even if this global crisis will disappear, our crisis will not disappear.

I agree, we should invest in our agriculture, do genuine agrarian reforms and population control.

If that will be realized, we will rpobabaly be the world's largest exporter. Our production is nearly double that of Thailand and if I'm not mistaken Thailand is the largest exporter(or natalo na ba sila ng Vietnam). Thailand pop is only some 60 million, the Philippines, more than 90 million na, Vietnam is in the 80 millions I think.

saan ba yung na basa ko yung matataba daw 1 kutsara lang na kanin

tapos yung payat half rice nalang ..lol

btw kung babawasan ang kanin ang ulam na naman ang ma lilintikan ..hehe

^^ Masyadong assuming naman yung ganun. May mga mapapayat naman na malakas kumain, meron yung matataba na mahina kumain. Parang ako, mapayat pero matakaw. Hehehe

The truth is there is no real rice shortage. The traders and businessmen just want to create panic to drastically increase the cost of rice and other basic food commodities

There is no rice shortage! Teka, bakit nananawagan ang gobyerno na mag-serve ng half-rice ang mga restaurants para makatipid sa konsumo ng bigas.

There is no rice shortage! Teka, bakit tumawag-tawag pa ang gobyerno ng food summit.

There is no rice shortage! Teka, bakit biglang nag hello Vietnam si GMA para magpasubi ng 1.5M tonelada for import.

There is no rice shortage! Teka, bakit panay ang taas ng presyo sa merkado ng bigas.

There is no rice shortage! Teka, bakit biglang iniutos ang pagtaas ng presyo ng palay para bigyan ng incentive ang mga magsasaka na magtanim ng mas marami.

There is no rice shortage! Teka, bakit ang haba ng pila ng mga tao sa NFA rice at may limit pa kung ilang kilo lang ang puedeng bilhin.

The truth is, there shouldn't be any rice shortage today kung tama ang polisiya ng gobyerno ni GMA na paboran ang pagtatanim kasya sa pag-import kung saan rumaraket ang kanyang mga alagad. Food security should be a thrust of the government from day 1. So bakit ngayon lang magkukumahog kung kailan nasa pintuan na ang krisis. Ay sya nga pala, There is no rice shortage.

now more than ever, is the best time for us plus-size people to lose weight...i really have a thing with wishing for things...now the economy is helping with my diet :lol:

‘We will padlock warehouses in case of rice holiday’ (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/nation/view/20080404-128405/We-will-padlock-warehouses-in-case-of-rice-holiday)


By Tetch Torres
INQUIRER.net
First Posted 16:35:00 04/04/2008


MANILA, Philippines -- Justice Secretary Raul Gonzalez warned rice traders that the government would padlock their warehouses if they push through their reported plan to declare a “rice holiday.”

Gonzalez, asked to react to radio reports saying traders would suspend rice sales if government pushes through plans to regulate rice retailing, said taking action against a rice holiday is part of the state’s police powers to regulate liberty and property for the promotion of the general welfare.

The Constitution and various Supreme Court rulings, Gonzalez explained, allow the use of police power to impose restraint on liberty or property to foster common good.

"We know that they are at a disadvantage if the government will regulate them in selling rice but we have to do all the necessary measures so that we can get through this crisis," Gonzalez said.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ano ba talaga, meron o wala?

^^ In denial eh! Malamang nagdadiet ang mga yan kanya OK lang walang makitang kanin sa mesa! Dami naman silang ulam eh. Kaso nga lang ang mga mamamayan naman eh di naman kayang bumili ng daming ulam kanya nga kanin na lang ang pangpuno. Kakainis kasi ginagawang tanga nanaman ang mga mamamayang Pilipino!
Tsk, tsk, tsk... :bash: :bash: :bash:



RP's agricultural productivity has been declining since the 70s
KARL G. OMBION, Bulatlat
04/04/2008
GMA News
http://www.gmanews.tv/story/87776/RPs-agricultural-productivity-has-been-declining-since-the-70s

MANILA, Philippines - Amid recent reports of another impending rice crisis, a local university-based agricultural economist said he is not surprised by the reports because “there has been a prolonged and continuous decline in Philippine agricultural productivity since the early 1970s."

Dr. Romeo Teruel, research director of the University of St. La Salle, said that rampant poverty and hunger in a number of regions in the country, especially in Western Visayas, can be attributed to the decreasing agricultural activity and declining agricultural productivity.

“Instability of rice supply, as in other vital food crops, can be explained easily by the stagnating agricultural production in the country; and on the other hand, its growing dependence on importation," said Teruel, citing recent international research studies he was involved in.

Teruel said this trend is quite ironic, especially in view of the fact that in terms of promoting nationwide economic development, agriculture is supposedly an important sector to deal with, as it is the predominant source of income and employment in the country.

“Agricultural sector accounts for approximately 20 percent of the gross domestic product and about 14 percent of the country’s export earnings. It also employs almost half of the labor force of the country, thus the dependence of the majority of the rural poor on the agricultural sector as the major source of livelihood remains high," he said.

But since 1974, Teruel stressed, agricultural production continued to stagnate, growing with an average of 1 percent a year. He added that while the trend growth rate was 1.4 percent from 1990 to 1995, it declined to 0.6 percent from years 1996 to 2000.

He also said that the past and present agricultural situation seems to suggest that the Philippine agricultural sector is lagging behind other agricultural economies in terms of comparative competitiveness.

“The Philippines has been transformed into a net agricultural importing country during the last decade. From being a net exporter in the 1970s and 1980s, the Philippines registered an agricultural trade deficit from $0.257 billion in 1991-1994 to $3.347 billion in 1995 to 1998. The Philippines was also transformed into from a net food exporting country to a net food importer as of 1995, with an average net food trade deficit of $0.222 billion," he said.

In his recent study entitled “Regional Productivity and Convergence: The Case of Philippine Agriculture," Teruel revealed there is a growing disparity among the country’s 15 regions in terms of productivity.

He said that Luzon regions, particularly central Luzon, are found more productive than regions in the Visayas and Mindanao.

He also noted that in the Visayas and Mindanao, Western Visayas and Bicol posted the lowest agricultural productivity and decreasing agricultural activities, citing as major factors the lack of roads, poor rural electrification, lack of irrigation, less high-yielding variety crops, less government support for research and technology development, technology development and extension work.

Teruel added that there is no trend of convergence or diminution of economic inequality among the regions, but instead a growing dispersion, leaving backward and poorer regions further behind.

“Unless the current trend in Philippine agriculture is reversed, the already prolonged and continuous decline in our agriculture will only worsen the food insecurity in the country," he concluded.

Teruel’s studies draw affirmation from the organizations of marginalized sectors in the province, as they warned of possible food riot and anarchy in urban and rural areas should the government fails to avert the reported rice shortage and skyrocketing of the prices of basic commodities and public services.

In an interview, Merlyn Prajes, vice chairperson of the urban poor alliance Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay), said, “It is not impossible for the present rice shortage to develop into a full blown crisis because of the high prices of rice and other basic commodities on one hand, and on the other hand, the continued slump of agricultural production."

In fact, Prajes stressed, this scenario is already taking shape steadily though slowly in small scale, in a number of areas in the region and country, where poor people are forced to steal and loot some warehouses and establishments because they could not bear going hungry or scampering for food for days.

“No matter what and how the government justifies the food insecurity in the country, it cannot hide the fact that rice and other basic food items in the province and country are getting scarcer and expensive due to the collapsing agricultural production in the country and the people’s lack of capacity to buy what they need," Prajes said.

The urban poor leader noted that in all markets the prices of rice, fish, meat and other basic consumer goods have recently soared, making them inaccessible to common families who are mostly among the urban poor.

She also scored the government’s inability to curb the food crisis and rise in prices of prime commodities.

“First, because they are just the result of government’s bias against developing and protecting the country’s agriculture from the onslaughts of imported cheap agricultural products; and second, its inutility to control the rapacity of the big food traders, importers-exporters, and transnational agri-business companies," she said.

Prajes’ sentiments were echoed by Isidro Castillo, spokesperson of the National Federation of Sugar Workers (NFSW) who said that “the rice crisis had happened in the 1970s, 1980s, and mid-1990s, and is bound to happen again and again because the government gives more premium to production of high value crops for export than food production for internal food security."

The problem of food insecurity is compounded by the people’s lack of purchasing power due to massive unemployment, landlessness and lack of basic social services from the government, Castillo said.

Castillo said that the last time that Negros had a serious rice crisis was in the middle of the 1990s. “That situation was dreaded by many because people in urban and rural areas were forced to steal, loot warehouses and commercial establishments, ate in restaurants and eateries without paying, and stormed local government units demanding food support and farm implements; there was practically anarchy," Castillo said.

He said the situation has not improved since then. “In fact, it has even worsened despite claims by the local government units that they have been doing much in their basic services, employment generation, and sustainable agricultural production," he added.

In a monocrop sugar-based economy like Negros, the food situation does not improve and is unlikely to make any progress because much of the lands are in the hands of the few, and cash-crop production is geared mainly for market and exports, Castillo stressed.

Prajes said that unless the government gives focus on employment generation, protection of workers’ security of tenure, delivery of basic services, and clamp down on exploitative businesses, the rice shortage and higher prices of basic commodities will only further worsen things.

Castillo affirmed Prajes and added that “the only way out of this food crisis is for the government to start seriously carrying out genuine land reform, give provision for support services, and undertake rural industrialization."

Arroyo allots P40B to stave off food crisis
By ANGELO GUTIERREZ
abs-cbnNEWS.com
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/topofthehour.aspx?StoryId=114035

President Arroyo on Friday committed at least 40 billion pesos for a government "masterplan" which seeks to prevent the emerging world food crisis from severely affecting the country.

"Our program, for easy recall, will be called FIELDS," Mrs. Arroyo said as she outlined the fund allotments for agriculture, based on the Department of Agriculture's (DA) list of recommendations that was drafted after a 40-day consultation meeting with farmers and agriculture leaders nationwide.

FIELDS stands for fertilizer, irrigation and infrastructure, extension and education, loans, dryers and post-harvest facilities, and seeds and other genetic materials.

Mrs. Arroyo made the announcement before agriculture stakeholders and public officials during the National Food Summit held at Fontana resort hotel in Clark, Pampanga.

Funds for FIELDS

Mrs. Arroyo commited P500 million for organic fertilizer, which she said must replace oil-based fertilizer, which is becoming increasingly unaffordable in the international market.

The President also promised to allot P6 million for yearly rehabilitation of irrigation systems starting 2008, and another P6 billion for infrastructure, including farm-to-market roads, roll on-roll off ferry ports, and air transportation for agricultural cargo.

Another P2 billion fund allocation was promised for agriculture research and development, including training for farmers and fisherfolks.

She also asked the Department of Science and Technology to allot funds for agriculture research from its P3 billion budget for the year.

For loans, Mrs. Arroyo said she has ordered government financial institutions, including the Land Bank of the Philippines, to release P15 billion for agricultural credit.

She said the amount excludes the P5 billion credit fund that has been made available solely for rice farmers.

Mrs. Arroyo said the government will also spend P2 billion for dryers and another $300 million (P12.5 billion) from the Asian Development Bank for post-harvest facilities nationwide.

For seeds, she said P8 billion will be spent for the development of high-yielding hybrid rice from certified rice.

DA Secretary Arthur Yap said the amounts alloted will be spent by the government in the remaining years of Mrs. Arroyo's presidency.

Agriculture Ombudsman

Arroyo said that with reports of corruption in the agriculture sector, she would have to appoint a Deputy Ombudsman for agriculture.

"Since farm spending may now be bigger, a deputy Ombudsman may be needed in agriculture," she said.

An Ombudsman in agriculture would initiate transparency and "ensure that money is spent wisely."

Mrs. Arroyo said in her speech that the government has "a lot of cleaning up to do" as she personally discovered that rice traders, particularly accredited distributors of the National Food Authority (NFA), have been "violating the terms and conditions of their accreditation."

Mrs. Arroyo said she had ordered the NFA to cancel all accreditations and authorizations issued to its dealers.

"We have asked them to apply all over again for accreditation," she said.

Preparing since Christmas

In his opening speech, Yap said that while he and other Cabinet members were on a Christmas break, Mrs. Arroyo summoned them to a meeting on December 27.

"The President has anticipated the impacts of this situation on our nation," Yap said.

He said that as early as the first week of January, Mrs. Arroyo ordered her to convene the National Food Summit.

He said he had spent the last 40 days going around rice producing provinces to get recommendations that will be presented to Mrs. Arroyo.

Mrs. Arroyo’s administration formed "FIELDS" based on these recommendations.

CARP extension not mentioned

However, there was no mention of the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) in the FIELDS masterplan.

In the People’s Food Summit at the University of the Philippines on Tuesday, civil society groups, including Catholic church leaders, proposed the extension of CARP.

Twenty-nine bishops, led by Jaro Archbishop Angel Lagdameo and Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Rosales, asked Congress to urgently pass a law that will extend CARP.

"We are writing to manifest our appeal to the honorable members of Congress, the urgency of passing a bill to extend CARP and institute progressive reforms that would truly benefit our poor farmers who remain landless...," the CBCP said in a 3-page letter sent to Rep. Elias Bulut, chairman of the House Committee on Agrarian Reform last April 1.

"After twenty years, 1.3 million hectares of CARPable lands remain undistributed, consisting mainly of large haciendas of those who have been resisting CARP from its inception," the bishops said.

The bishops said giving farmers their own land to till will help the alleviation of poverty, particularly in the countrysides.

They said the passage of a reformed CARP should "be placed at the center of our country's agricultural development, transformation and competitiveness."

Another major recommendation made during the People’s Food Summit was the scrapping of the land conversion law, which has become an obstacle to the improvement of domestic rice production.

An ABS-CBN News Channel report, quoting the Philippine Rice Institute, said 9,000 hectares of rice lands are being converted for other uses every year since 2002.

The report said 9,000 hectares is equal to 50,000 tons of palay or 32,000 tons of milled rice.

Agri growth momentum

Yap, however, said that despite "unprecedented conditions, the agriculture sector is on a momentum of growth."

"The average growth has been robust and sustained at just a shade below 4 percent," he said.

Last year, he said the the government recorded "the second highest growth in the last eight years at 5 percent."

He said rice production has been increasing with 16.24 million metric tons of rice produced in 2007.

The agriculture department said domestic rice production has been increasing 2 percent per year.

Eto binibili namin parati, puwede kaya ipabalikbayan box yung 4 X 50 lb bags?
Sayang, tapos na yung $35/box sa LBC, nag sale sila last week. Baka mas mura pa lalabas.

http://content.costco.com/Images/Content/Product/389268b.jpg
Super Lucky Elephant Jasmine Rice
25 lb $12.16

Sabi ng isang Pinoy, tumaas na rin daw ang presyo ng bigas dito sa amin.

Palace expects 'bloody' talk with rice retailers Tuesday
04/05/2008 | 11:47 AM

MANILA. Philippines Malacañang expects "bloody discussions" with rice retailers at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday, April 8, where they will talk ways on how to arrest the impending rice crisis.

Cerge Remonde, head of the Presidential Management Staff, on Saturday said Malacañang would give the retailers a chance to air their concerns at the meeting.

"Isa 'yan sa magiging madugong usapin sa Cabinet meeting Tuesday. It so happened na ang president ng Grains Retailers Confederation of the Philippines ay tagaCebu. We also want them to be able to give their side (We expect the discussion to be bloody. It so happened that the Grains Retailers Confederation of the Philippines has a Cebuano like me for its president, so we want them to be able to give their side)," Remonde said on government-run dzRB radio.

Some retailers had threatened to hold a rice holiday to protest the government's order that suspended their permit to retail rice.

The suspension was part of efforts to prevent unscrupulous rice traders from hoarding and manipulating prices rice from the National Food Authority.

Remonde said he relayed the concerns of the retailers to Mrs Arroyo, who was "very open sa demokratikong talakayan (very open to democratic discussion) They would be given a chance at the Cabinet to air their side Tuesday."

The Grains Retailers Confederation of the Philippines has 80,000 members nationwide, according to Remonde.

The rice supply and distribution situation will also be discussed in Tuesday's meeting.

Remonde said "it's very sad" that critics continued to question government moves to address the looming rice crisis.

"Nandoon na naman suspicion ng kurakot. Anticipated 'yan ni Pangulo (There goes the suspicions on corruption again). That is why... decision niya (her decision was) that she might appoint a deputy ombudsman just for agriculture," he said. - GMANews.TV (http://www.gmanews.tv/story/87829/Palace-expects-bloody-talk-with-rice-retailers-Tuesday)

basmati rice is also good. too bad it's not sold much in the PHils. it's lighter and fluffier.

When can we be self-sufficient in rice again without being dependent on exports? Can we make it through the impending rice crisis this year? What do you think?

Go ahead and post away!

We produce nearly twice as much as Thailand does yet we are import dependent(15% of our rice are imported).

I think you mean the Philippines has higher rice yields per hectare than Thailand. (?)

Actually, it's Thailand that produce twice as much as the Philippines does, simply because Thailand has more rice-harvested land.

Data from IRRI
(It was from year 2000 but I believe it's still not much different now.)

.................................Vietnam............Thailand...............Philippines

Area harvested (ha).....7,654,900..........10,048,000...........4,037,085
Yield (ton/ha)..............4.3...................2.3.....................3.1
Production (ton)..........32,554,000.........23,402,900..........12,415,043



http://www.irri.org/science/cnyinfo/thailand.asp

I think you mean the Philippines has higher rice yields per hectare than Thailand. (?)

Actually, it's Thailand that produce twice as much as the Philippines does, simply because Thailand has more rice-harvested land.

Data from IRRI
(It was from year 2000 but I believe it's still not much different now.)

.................................Vietnam............Thailand...............Philippines

Area harvested (ha).....7,654,900..........10,048,000...........4,037,085
Yield (ton/ha)..............4.3...................2.3.....................3.1
Production (ton)..........32,554,000.........23,402,900..........12,415,043



http://www.irri.org/science/cnyinfo/thailand.asp

The technology here in the Philippines regarding agriculture isn't yet distributed to the farmers. If they will all use tractors instead of carabaos, then the production will increase. But I won't agree to the total abolishment of carabaos either.

Solutions to Rice Crisis:

1. Provide efficient technology to farmers - like the use of tractors rather than carabaos, the use of the pest resistant variety of rice and longer grains. Educate the farmers as well.

2. Provide proper drying equipment to farmers instead of drying along the road side that exposes the palay to other elements such as wind and rain that cause the decrease of the initial rice harvest.

3. Provide proper irrigation to farm lands.

4. Destroy the rice cartel of traders who hoard tons of rice in the warehouses.

5. Revive the dying Banaue Rice Terraces, the Luzon rice-producing provinces, and the eastern Visayas site.

6. Develop Mindanao into a rice producing bowl. Mindanao is a favorable location for rice production due to massive lands that are available for farming and the favorable weather condition all year round.

Also, teach Juan De La Cruz to eat more fruits and vegetables instead of consuming massive amount of rice. Rice should only be a side dish.

Teach Juan Dela Cruz the effective family planning method.
By the way, the Church has failed to teach their flocks with the natural family planning method. Therefore, they should feed the poor with multiple children.

we should all start eating lugaw. no kidding. less rice, larger volume.

Yes lugaw with chicken and malunggay garnish parang goto at arrozcaldo.

yes, exactly. we will actually do this at home, maybe four to five lugaw/arroz caldo meals in a week. perhaps we can spread the word...

another short to mid-term solution: eat lugaw/arroz caldo regularly. mas busog sa konting kanin. :)

Filipinos should also learn the health benefits of brown rice and start consuming the nutrients-rich brown rice.

i second the motion :)

Sunday, April 06, 2008
Palace, 2 councilors rushed to raided businessman's aid
By Karlon N. Rama
Sun.Star Staff Reporter

HOW much pull does a King have?

Less than an hour after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) served a search warrant on a warehouse that held businessman Regan King’s rice in Mandaue City late Wednesday afternoon, a representative of a government agency was there to say there was no problem.

The following day, the National Food Authority (NFA), who worked with the NBI in implementing the warrant, refused to take custody of the stocks in the warehouse.

It was the NFA that certified the warehouse was operating illegally. That certification resulted in the court’s issuance of the search warrant.

That same day, Cebu City Councilor Jack Jakosalem called up Secretary Cerge Remonde, who then supposedly informed the President about the incident, and who then relayed through the media that the rice shipment was to be released.

Jakosalem, in an interview, said King requested his help. He confirmed knowing King and said the latter is one of the advertisers of Y101, an FM station he manages.

On that same day too, Cebu City Councilor Gerry Carillo filed, in his capacity as a private lawyer, a motion to quash seeking the nullification of the search warrant.

Carillo, in a separate interview, said he was hired to serve as lead counsel for the businessman.

NBI 7 Director Medardo de Lemos said they will comply with the order Regional Trial Court Executive Judge Fortunato de Gracia gave last Friday, after returning the warrant to the court.

And while he has not received the order from the President to release the rice, de Lemos said he will leave the matter of the release to the Bureau of Customs (BOC), “who had and who always had” custody of the shipment.

He clarified that the NBI never took custody of the rice. They merely padlocked the warehouse. The rice, he said, was evidence of the allegedly illegal operation.

Asked if the NBI will still be active in running against suspected rice smugglers and hoarders as instructed by the President, he said all regional agencies are bound to do so.

He found unfair criticisms that the raid was “not properly coordinated” and that they didn’t exercise diligence in confirming their information.

“If the raid hadn’t been coordinated, the NFA wouldn’t have been with the team. And if we didn’t exercise diligence, there wouldn’t have been an NFA certification saying the warehouse didn’t have an NFA license,” he said.

Judge de Gracia, in an order released around 4 p.m. Friday, took custody of the shipment: 24,443 bags of rice found in the warehouse.

But because the court does not have storage space, he placed it under the custody of the BOC.

Read more (http://www.sunstar.com.ph/static/ceb/2008/04/06/news/palace.2.councilors.rushed.to.raided.businessman.s.aid.html)

Rice crisis ‘imminent’ a long time ago
By Conrad M. Cariño, Senior Desk Editor
Manila Times
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2008/apr/06/yehey/top_stories/20080406top3.html

It is quite ironic that the Philippines, with its Philippine Rice Research Institute (PhilRice) and host to the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), has never been rice self-sufficient for the most part of the last 20 years.

While some argue that the Philippines is not blessed like Thailand, India, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Bangladesh, with plains and deltas more highly suitable for rice farming, local experts believe the country could still attain rice self-sufficiency, making imports unnecessary.

In fact, the country even exported rice when then-President Ferdinand Marcos implemented the highly successful “Masagana 99” program. The government carried it out even when a rice crisis was not imminent.

Some of the problems causing our low rice production even have immediate solutions on hand. And many causes of low rice production could have been avoided if the government had foreseen the present crunch in world rice supply.

Food Minister Tanchangco

One of those who foresaw today’s world rice supply problem is Jesus Tanchangco, the former Food Minister of Marcos. More than a year ago, Tanchangco was already making statements that the country could not entirely rely on imported rice to solve domestic production shortages.

“Taking the world supply of rice, for example, statistics show that of the total quantity of rice produced worldwide, less than 3 percent is being traded,” he said.

The former food minister said that a slight decrease in worldwide rice production, as low as 5 percent, would affect many rice-producing countries, including those that import the grain.

Many factors can affect worldwide rice production. IRRI President Robert Zeigler, in an interview with Agence France-Presse, cited “adverse weather in Bangladesh, pests and disease in Vietnam, and political problems in Myanmar” as factors that will make a dent on worldwide rice supply.

The Climate Change Group of IRRI also discovered that a drop of 1 degree centigrade in climate temperatures can result in a 10-percent drop in rice yields.

Before the country signed a deal to buy large quantities of rice from Vietnam, Sen. Mar Roxas had warned that “Thailand, which used to sell rice to the Philippines, could not commit to sell rice. Vietnam, for its part, said it could be able to sell only one-half of the total metric tons the Philippines used to buy.”

The Philippines-Vietnam agreement in March for the supply of 1.5 million MT of the grains has a clause stating “Vietnamese government agrees to sell, unless under circumstances of natural disaster and harvest loss,” which makes it possible for Vietnam to refuse to deliver rice to us.

For this year, the Philippines will import up to two million metric tons of rice, even if rice harvests this year reach over 16 million MT.

Avoiding imports

Rice importations in this crisis could have been avoided had the government invested more in the agriculture sector than spending the money on rice imports.

Palawan’s Rep. Abraham Mitra last year suggested that the billions of pesos used to import rice should be allocated to increase the domestic production.

He even pointed out that a fraction of the import funds can be used to improve post-harvest facilities.

Post-harvest losses in rice hovers around 14 to 25 percent. This means that if post-harvest losses are addressed, there may be no need to import rice, because according to the Department of Agriculture, the country today is 90-percent self-sufficient in rice.

Felino Garcia Jr., a farmer leader in Nueva Vizcaya, even said the government subsidy to propagate high-yielding hybrid rice seeds is miniscule compared to the billions of pesos spent for rice imports.

At present, the government shoulders half of the cost of hybrid seeds bought by farmers through the GMA (Ginintuang Masaganang Ani) Rice Program.

Hybrid seeds can improve yields by about 30 percent. There are even hybrid rice farmers who report palay (unhusked rice) yields of above 10 MT per hectare per cropping on irrigated rice fields, which is very high compared to the 3.49 MT national average, also for irrigated lands.

Flawed policies

Largely to blame for today’s rice crisis is the flawed policy of past administrations not to spend heavily on agriculture to make the country self-sufficient.

Notably, when Marcos fled the country in 1986, the government’s buffer stocks for rice was 900,000 MT, making importations unnecessary. It was only in 1973, during the Marcos regime, that rice had to be imported because typhoons that hit Central Luzon in 1972 destroyed much of the expected harvest.

Since 1988, the country was only rice-self sufficient for a short break—when Roberto Sebastian was Agriculture secretary.

Since then, the country has been importing rice. What could have possibly gone wrong?

Arsenio Balisacan, a respected figure in academe and agriculture circles who heads the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research and Agriculture (SEARCA), believes that the government’s investment in the agriculture sector is inappropriately low.

“The country’s investments in agricultural research and related activities have remained at a low level of 0.1 percent of the country’s Gross Value Added [GVA] in agriculture over the past 10 years. This is far below the 1-percent level recommended for developing countries and very much lower than the 2 to 3 percent observed in many countries,” Balisacan said in a paper about the state of Philippine agriculture.

Balisacan said that China’s investment in agriculture in the mid-2000s was 0.8 percent of GVA, which explains why that country is now an agricultural production powerhouse.

Spending per farmer

In an interview with The Manila Times, an official of the Agriculture department said the country spends only P1,000 per farmer, which is low compared to the P3,000 to P4,000 per farmer spent by countries like Thailand, Japan and other developed countries.

Likewise, much has to be done to develop agriculture infrastructure, for example, in irrigation. Data from the National Irrigation Administration show that in 2006, 705,000 hectares were served by national irrigation systems out of the 3.12 million hectares of irrigable lands, which are mostly rice. If there is any consolation, the total area served by irrigation systems as of 2006 is 1.428 million hectares, because of the contribution of communal systems (549,000 hectares) and private irrigation (174,000 hectares).

In contrast, the Marcos administration under the Masagana 99 attained a target of 1.6 million hectares of farms for irrigation, of which 1.3 million hectares were covered by national systems. The rest was served by communal irrigation systems.


__________________________________________


Special Report : food security
Rice sufficiency not impossible, experts say
By Conrad M. Cariño, Senior Desk Editor
Manila Times

(Editor’s note: In the first part, the author writes of the Marcos “Masagana 99” program. The administration pursued it even if a rice crisis was not “imminent.” It made the Philippines a rice-exporting nation. The threat of a rice-shortage crisis has always been a threat because the country has not been self-sufficient in rice for most of the last two decades. This is owing to wrong macroeconomic government policies on agriculture.)

Last of two parts

With low investments in agriculture, most especially rice farms, the palay yields per hectare hovers from three to four tons in non-irrigated farms, with the higher range produced in irrigated lands.

In China, palay yields of 10 to 12 tons per hectare, per cropping are not unusual. China was once an importer of rice, but strived for self-sufficiency by spending heavily on agriculture.

With the government investing so little in agriculture, it is no wonder that poverty is very high among agricultural households in the Philippines.

“Poverty incidence among agricultural households is about four times that in the rest of the population. While only a little more than one-third of the labor force is in agriculture, two of every three destitute persons are dependent directly on agriculture for employment and sustenance,” said Arsenio Balisacan, head of the Southeast Asian Regional Center for Graduate Study and Research and Agriculture (SEARCA).

Growing population

Compounding the lack of rice self-sufficiency is the country’s growing population and the dwindling supply of arable lands to plant rice. This combination can be explosive, since an increasing population means more farming areas have to be developed for human habitation.

Rodelio Cataring, the technical assistant to the director of the Bureau of Soils and Water Management, said rice is best planted on arable plains or flat lands, and that most of the two to four million hectares of idle lands that the government can open up for new agricultural activities are mostly on hilly or upland areas that may not be suitable for planting rice on a large scale.

While the conversion of rice lands for commercial, industrial or residential use can be checked by the issuance of a presidential decree or an act of Congress, arresting population growth by contraceptives is a very sensitive issue in largely Catholic Philippines.

“While population growth rates declined substantially to well below 2 percent a year in such countries as Thailand, Indonesia, China, and Vietnam, the rate in the Philippines hardly changed; it is still at a high level of 2.3 percent a year,” Balisacan said.

Rice self-sufficiency

Nevertheless, there is no reason to believe that the country could not attain rice self-sufficiency.

In fact, the government’s target for attaining rice self-sufficiency is just three to four years away, and is not an impossible dream.

Frisco Malabanan, director of the GMA (Ginintuang Masaganang Ani) Rice Program, said a 95-percent self-sufficiency in rice is targeted in 2009 or 2010. Today, the country’s rice self-sufficiency is already about 90 percent.

Among the reasons why the country can achieve rice self-sufficiency is the availability of viable technologies that can improve rice yields, and the country’s hosting PhilRice and the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

Of the many available “modern” rice-growing technologies in the Philippines, hybrid and certified seeds are fast gaining popularity over inbred varieties.

On hybrid seeds, Malabanan said about 300,000 hectares of rice farms now use hybrid seeds, while the use of genetically modified rice seeds is still “under study.”

Noel Mamicpic, vice-president of hybrid rice producer SL Agritech Corp., said if the total area planted to hybrid rice reaches 800,000 hectares, that will increase local rice production by 3 million metric tons, enough to negate the need to import rice.

The only disadvantage of hybrid seeds is that the mature plants cannot be sourced for planting materials, unlike certified or in-bred seeds.

Certified seeds can boost rice yields from 20 percent to 30 percent.

Besides propagating hybrid and certified seeds, the Agriculture department is set to jumpstart a program that will reduce chemical fertilizer use in rice farms by 50 percent, through the use of compost, bio-fertilizers and seed inoculants. This protocol can also increase yields from 30 percent to 50 percent.

Farm technology

That program, called Tamang Abono, belies the claims of critics who accuse Agriculture of favoring chemical farming.

Likewise, PhilRice and IRRI are collaborating on rice varieties that can withstand submergence in water for at least two weeks.

The PhilRice’s website says scientists from both rice-research institutes are also identifying rice varieties that can “either avoid, tolerate or resist heat stress.”

The experiments of PhilRice and IRRI on water- and heat-tolerant rice-varieties address the possible impact of climate change on rice production.

The good news is the techno-demo rice farms of the Agriculture department using the various technologies to increase production are yielding between 5 to 6 metric tons of palay per hectare, per cropping. There is even a farmer in Nueva Ecija whose farm hit a record 17 metric tons per hectare, per cropping using hybrid seeds.

Higher levels of rice production could make rice farming a more profitable venture, which will stop farmers from shifting to other crops, particularly biofuels.

Better rice production will also make farmers a more creditworthy, viable borrower for banks and financial institutions.

Opportunities abound

In a forum, Agriculture Secretary Arturo Yap said the present crisis being faced by the country holds many opportunities for farmers.

“Facing these grave threats gives the golden opportunities for farmers to better their incomes,” Yap said.

This remains to be seen. But President Gloria Arroyo’s positive response to the present rice crisis, and her promise of releasing billions to support the rice industry and other agricultural activities and launching the FIELDS programs, is laudable. FIELDS stands for what the government aims to provide farmers: fertilizer, irrigation, extension and education, loan and insurance, dryers and other post-harvest facilities, and seeds.

While those developments are good news for rice farmers, the specter of the fertilizer scam and the recently uncovered swine scam casts a doubt if government is serious in implementing programs without graft or corruption.

However, if much of the large funds released by the President to support rice production is spent as intended, then rice self-sufficiency can be attained. Besides, much of the technology to improve rice yields is readily available, and the unabated conversion of agricultural lands can be stopped by a presidential action.

Balisacan said, “To win the war against chronic food insecurity and poverty, government must put its resources where its mouth is. It must invest in agriculture and rural development and must improve governance relating to it and the rest of the economy.”