"Zauberland"??? oder "Wunderland"??? oder was auch immer... 10 Millionen Pinoys haben sich weiter mit dem Essen einschränken müssen in 2004:
Hunger spreads amid growth
By RODERICK T. DE LA CRUZ
TODAY Reporter
The economy may have grown by more than 6 percent in 2004 but a local survey shows that high prices of consumer products forced more than 10 million poor Filipinos to further reduce their food intake last year.
In a Kilosbayan forum where Isabela Gov. Grace M. Padaca was honored as Woman of the Year for 2004, professor Felipe B. Maranda, research director of Pulse Asia Inc., said 49 percent of the 1,200 respondents in the survey conducted from October 22 to November 6, 2004, pointed to high inflation as the most urgent national concern.
Padaca, a polio-afflicted radio broadcaster, won the gubernatorial race in Isabela over the Dy political clan in May last year. Her triumph was described as one of the bright spots in the countrys political development.
According to the National Statistics Office (NSO), the year-on-year headline inflation rate surged 7.9 percent in December, the highest in 68 months since May 1999, and averaged 5.5 percent in 2004. Inflation rate for food alone reached 8 percent in December and averaged 5.8 percent last year, much higher than the 2 percent recorded in 2003.
Miranda said food accounts for 52 percent of the total household expenditure of the respondents, with electricity and education representing only 11 percent each.
According to the survey that measured public perceptions on the quality of life in the country and the presidential performance, 27 percent of the respondents resorted to borrowing money from others to cope with spiraling prices of commodities.
Worse, 16 percent said they reduced their food consumption, which is a most unkind cut, according to Miranda, considering that Filipinos already have a very low budget for food. Around 13.4 million Filipinos are represented by the 16 percent of the respondents.
Seven out of 10 respondents, or nearly 60 million Filipinos, said that they are poor or very poor and that they would need P15,000 per family to live in Metro Manila and P10,000 in other parts of the country. They deem as sufficient allocation for food at least P6,000 in Metro Manila and P4,000 outside the metropolis.
We dont have a very demanding public, said Miranda, pointing out that such budget for food amounts to only P10 for a meal for every person. With P10, you can buy two kinds of noodles: Lucky Me and Payless, he said.
A third of the respondents, representing 28 million Filipinos, said their basic needs are not met. These include food, housing, clothing, education and medicine.
Miranda noted that at no point in our history [have] people [felt] they had lost so much. He added: The publicthe poor and the wealthyis unified by [a] perception of the negative quality of life.
Around 60 percent of the respondents believe that their personal quality of life had worsened as of October, and 47 percent said this would be worse in 2005. The most urgent personal concerns are health, education, job, food, savings, shelter, debt, crime, illegal drugs and migration.
At the same time, 78 percent of the respondents believe the national quality of life is worse now and 65 percent claimed it would be worse in 2005. Besides inflation, other top national concerns are graft and corruption, peace, poverty and low income.
Miranda said that pessimism has heightened public distrust in the government. There is so much despair about the performance of the current administration, he said.
The disapproval rating of President Arroyo climbed to 34 percent in October, the worst rating she got since assuming office in January 2001. The President also flunked in her performance card, with a mean grade of 64 percent and median grade of 71 percent.
The University of the Philippines professor described the grade as very bad for a newly elected president in a time of crisis.
Miranda described the Filipinos as a very kind people. If this constituency is treated more sincerely, then I believe our economy will be among the best, if not the best, in this part of the world, he said.
For his part, UP Law School Professor Harry Roque said the challenge for the government is to use the results of the survey as a tool to adjust its policies and improve its performance. The challenge for the people, Roque said, is to be less optimistic and exercise their inherent power.
