PHILIPPINES: Food crisis threatening nutrition of young children

Photo: VJ Villafranca/IRIN

In 2003, 27 percent of children under the age of six were underweight and 30 percent under-height

MANILA, 16 July 2008 (IRIN) - Rising prices of basic food commodities have forced the Philippine government to scale down efforts to address malnutrition among children, putting the under sixes at nutritional risk. 

The government has already opted to limit the coverage of its Food for School Programme from the top 40 food-poorest provinces to the top 20. President Arroyo, during a National Anti-Poverty Commission in March 2008, issued this directive as the country grappled with the tightening rice supply. 

The Food for School programmes have also been scaled down and no longer cover all children in grades one to six, but only the first three levels. The programme involves the distribution of one kilogram per day of iron-fortified rice in public schools for four months that children and their families can consume; it leads to improved school attendance. 

In a paper presented at a policy workshop to address hunger mitigation in June 2008, Maria Bernadita-Flores, executive director of the National Nutrition Council, acknowledged: “The rice price and supply crisis, coupled with the run-away prices of fuel in both global and local markets, present a clear and present danger of more Filipinos being hungry and in the long run, more undernourished.” 

She stressed the immediate need to implement intervention programmes “to mitigate this danger”. 

At high risk of under-nutrition are children under six, and the food insecurity caused by rising rice prices has magnified this concern, according to health authorities. 

“Children five-years and below are most vulnerable to malnutrition,” Cora Cerdena, supervising senior specialist at the Nutrition Centre of the Philippines, told IRIN. “That is why it is important to implement the programmes geared towards this age-group.” 

Prior to the food crisis, data showed the government was making headway in reducing malnutrition among infants and children up to five years old, as well as those aged 6-10. 





link: http://www.irinnews.org/Report/79274/PHILIPPINES-Food-crisis-threatening-nutrition-of-young-children


Few years ago under the government of former Pres. Gloria Arroyo the Philippines experienced in food crises especially in rice because the government  stated that there is a shortage in rice because of this the government need to import goods of rice from other country such as Vietnam and Thailand. And to this the government will expense millions of pesos just to provide the said good for the Filipino people. The prices of each kilo of rice before reach its maximum price and people cannot longer afford to purchase the product. Because of this thousands of people were suffered and look for another remedy or good. The NFA (National Food Authority) were assigned to help and to solve this crises. They sell some NFA rice in just P18 per kilo so that the people could afford to buy. Because of this crises a lot of instances were happened where malnutrition exists again and many other.

I suggests/ in my opinion the government and other private company of rice should not export many of our goods so that the people could used it in the near future if there will crises would come up because its really hard for us to find our basic needs or commodities if the prices will high. The government should also increase the supply of goods so that it will assess our needs.

Poverty in the Philippines

October 2001. The Population Commission (Popcom) said there are 30.6 million Filipinos or 6.12 million families who are suffering from poverty. When I learned about this, I took consolation with the notion that I am not alone, yet I felt dismayed over the complacency of our national government officials who seem undisturbed by the fact that 40 percent of their constituents live below the poverty line throughout the country's 78 provinces, 84 cities or 41,940 barangays. How can they sit back and relax?

There are about 77 million Filipinos today, and this number is growing by 2.05 percent annually. This means that some 1.5 million Filipinos are born every year, 600,000 of whom to poor parents. Some 32.5 million Filipinos, comprising 66.3 percent of the population, are considered matured enough to work. But 3.3 million of these people, or 10.1 percent of the workforce, cannot find jobs while 5.2 million others, or 17.7 percent, have no regular source of income.

By international standards, these are critical problems. The Taiwanese government is in the brink of panic, because the unemployment rate in that country just north of Luzon is threatening to hit 5 percent, year-on-year. Yet, our Filipino government officials are sitting relaxed inside posh restaurants and five-star hotels, as 8.5 million Filipinos or 28 percent of the workforce are trying to figure out where to source the next meal for their families. 

According to the World Bank, the Philippines had a per capita GNP of US$1,050 in 1999, compared to China's US$780, Indonesia's US$600, Vietnam's US$370, Lao's US$290 or Cambodia's US$280. Yet, the Philippines' poverty incidence rate of 40 percent is higher than China's 3 percent, Indonesia's 23 percent, Vietnam's 37 percent, Lao's 38 percent or Cambodia's 36 percent. Why is that? Wealth in the Philippines is concentrated on the hands of the few, that's why. It is the World Bank, and not the NDF, which gave such explanation.

Now consider this, the prestigious Forbes magazine has included at least five Filipinos in the list of world billionaires (US dollars). Let us rejoice! Imagine, highly industrial and welfare states like France, Finland, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden do not have a single representative to the billionaires' circle. 

Among Southeast Asian countries, poverty incidence is most extreme in the Philippines where some 15.3 million Filipinos (half of the poor population) wake up every morning without food on the table. These people are called subsistence individuals or whose income cannot provide for basic food requirements. Popcom's data is even conservative because in its interpretation, a family of six earning a total of P72,000 a year is not considered poor. In contrast, a study conducted by the National Wages and Productivity Commission (NWPC) pegged the minimum income that a family of six must earn annually at P191,874 in order to live decently in Metro Manila. 

The labor sector has been demanding for a P125 daily wage hike or 50 percent of the current level but the group of employers claimed that such wage adjustment would force many establishments out of business. Listening more to the rhetoric of the rich rather than to the howl of the poor, the Regional Tripartite Wage Board has approved only a P30 daily wage increase in the metropolis. The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) event want us to believe that the previous minimum daily wage of US$5 (P250) in Manila is much higher than China's US$1. Ironically, the Philippines reported a poverty incidence rate of 40 percent, much higher than China's 3 percent. 

What makes things more difficult for us is the high prices of commodities. The country's inflation rate, estimated at 6 to 7 percent annually, is the highest in Asia. Japan, a super rich country, is ironically having a deflation. 

Let us make some computation. A person who is covered by the minimum wage would not take home P250 a day. Most likely, the wage, after tax and pension deductions, on top of travel and meal expenses, would amount to something like P150. A person who passes by a fastfood center, which is not in anyway a luxurious restaurant, might spend at least P50, or 33 percent of his take-home income on a roll of rice and a fried chicken wing. That explains his purchasing power. Imagine spending all of your daily income in just three meals at an inexpensive restaurant. Food is supposed to account for less than 20 percent of a man's expenses.

While it might be true that a P125 daily wage adjustment will be bad for business (the Central Banks warned it would push inflation rate to 18 percent), this might be the only option that the poor has against poverty. Unless the government can do something like bringing the prices of food and other basic commodities, there is no other recourse but to increase the poor's purchasing power. The government needs to do its own computation, and put some system in managing the affairs of the nation.

Sadly, it seems that our government officials haven't learned anything from the past. Only last year, about 500 people were killed when a 50-meter pile of garbage collapsed on their makeshift houses in a dumpsite in Quezon City. This was the absolute face of poverty, whose image failed to instill understanding among our numb leaders. Now, who could blame the 20,000 protesters who stormed to Malacanang Palace last May 1. The people in the media, who were not even aware on what the attack was about, had the guts to brand these protesters a mob of poor and undisciplined warriors. 

It also seems that the current crop of leaders have nothing to offer, and one opposition senator even admitted that in 30 years, the Philippines will not even reach the level of Thailand, which I understand, is still a poor country. This is anything but encouraging. Imagine spending the next 30 years of your life in poverty (if the tension in Central Asia does not lead into another world war, of course). We wait for a day that one leader will rise to change our mindset and status in life. Someone who will promise to turn the Philippines into a country of mostly rich people in his lifetime and can convince us that he really can.


http://www.txtmania.com/articles/poverty.php


For me the most reason why there is poverty here in the Philippines its because of the corrupt people who are in the government. They used the money of the people for their own. They are not thinking what would be the result for the people here in the Philippines. Some officials are also made "kupit" if there are government projects like road widening and other infrastructure. One reason also is the high prices of the goods or commodities in the market. The people can't afford to buy the goods its because its too expensive because of lack of money and other resources that they could use.

Despite of this there are still people who help the poor the people just like the WFP (World Food Program) and other non-government organization who helped the poor people.