EU envoy: RP reeling from high prices, not food shortage
‘Country not poor, only the people’
By Desiree Caluza
Northern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 17:32:00 06/11/2008
Filed Under: Food, Diplomacy, indigenous people
BAGUIO CITY, Philippines -- Filipinos are not suffering from the unavailability of food products but from the high prices of these commodities, according to the ambassador of the European Union (EU).
EU Ambassador Alistair MacDonald said this is the reason the Philippines has yet to be included in the list of EU's assistance budget because there are other developing countries suffering from economic turmoil and massive food crisis, such as African nations and Burma, which need more fund support.
"The Philippines is not a poor country; only its people are poor. We are not treating the Philippines the way we are treating other poorer countries," said MacDonald in a press forum here on Monday.
MacDonald was guest at the Asia Workshop for the Promotion of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) here.
The workshop, which gathered delegates from the Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Burma and Thailand, was organized by the Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA), Tebtebba Indigenous Peoples International Center for Policy Research and Education, International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs, Asian Indigenous Women's Network and Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact.
MacDonald said the EU has recently produced a policy paper as its response to giving development aid to poor countries in Asia and Africa. He said the EU is also strengthening the dialogue with poor countries to improve their food situation.
"The tremendous increase in food prices is already hitting the people…the demand on food is already increasing," MacDonald said.
Aside from the high prices of food, the Philippines is also having problems channeling its efforts in improving and developing the agriculture sector, he said.
He said the country is not investing enough on agricultural research and irrigation, and this can be seen in the distribution of food products.
If the government invests enough in agriculture, adequate food supply can be ensured, he said.
MacDonald said the EU is continuing support for small-scale development programs on agriculture through fund support for the Central Cordillera Agricultural Program (Cecap) and agriculture projects in Mountain Province, Ifugao and Nueva Vizcaya.
The EU, he said, is also supporting agriculture programs in Mindanao.
Beverly Longid, CPA chair, said the Philippines' agriculture sector is only getting minimal support from the government.
Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) and executive director of Tebtebba, said the government should intensify its efforts to stop rice hoarding.
She said speculation amid the actual food and rice supply situation in the country leads hoarders to control supply flow, making it more inaccessible to consumers, especially the poor.
"The equitable distribution of food is affected not because we are suffering from [low] food production but because of hoarding brought about by speculation," Corpuz said.
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