‘Like putting money in basket with a hole’
By Kristine L. Alave, Michael Lim Ubac
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 04:44:00 06/18/2008
MANILA, Philippines—Giving subsidies to poor families may momentarily help them cope with the food and energy crises but it is like throwing money away.
A Roman Catholic Church leader, two senators and a leading member of the academe voiced this concern Tuesday in reaction to the dole policy enunciated by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
“The money comes from the taxes paid to the government. When it has been distributed, it disappears immediately,” Jaro, Iloilo Archbishop Angel Lagdameo, the president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, said in an interview on the Church-run Radio Veritas.
“It’s like putting money in a basket with a hole in the bottom,” Lagdameo said, adding that “dole-outs may even aggravate poverty.”
Lagdameo said that instead of handing out financial packages, the administration should focus on long-term developmental solutions, like eradicating corruption.
It’s band aid
Senators Manuel Roxas II and Richard Gordon told reporters the government should shift its strategy from dole-out to achieving rice self-sufficiency.
“This dole-out policy is band aid. Maybe this is stop-gap, might give a little help, but this is not the real solution needed by our countrymen because this money will eventually run out without fixing the problem,” said Roxas, an opposition senator.
Gordon pushed for an emergency employment program in irrigation and rice production.
“Right now, I prefer job creation instead of giving dole-outs—all of that is good, providing temporary relief—what is important is you create jobs. You can have more jobs and create infrastructure at the same time,” Gordon said.
He said the government could give jobs to people to repair destroyed irrigation facilities.
“If you do that, you don’t only take care of the rice crisis by making sure that you’re able to produce what is needed—the gap in production—you provide them with buying power,” Gordon said.
To mitigate the impact of rising prices of food, power and fuel, the government is selling cheap rice, has launched a P2-billion power subsidy program for “lifeline” users, or P500 for those consuming 100 kilowatt hours or less a month, and distributing a maximum of P1,400 cash stipends for every poor family under the P5-billion Ahon Pamilyang Pilipino program.
‘For show’
Ms Arroyo has also set aside a P1-billion loan facility for operators and drivers of public utility vehicles, which will allow them to modify their engines so that they would use cheaper and environmentally friendly fuels.
Roxas pointed out that the government was wasting money with doles that hardly made a difference to the lives of ordinary people.
He said the subsidies were all for “political show.”
Long-term measures to follow
Speaking at a forum, University of the Philippines Prof. Walden Bello said the P1-billion subsidy for public transport drivers may just be another piece-meal solution to the energy crisis.
“The problem with this is, it’s another kind of a reactive kind of move,” Bello said.
Comprehensive strategy
Bello, president of the Freedom from Debt Coalition, said he was skeptical of the move because the government had, so far, failed to draw up a comprehensive plan to address the energy crisis.
“What we’re looking for is a comprehensive, emergency energy strategy, not piece-meal kind of responses.”
Bello proposed that the government subsidize fuel consumption of public transport drivers using funds meant for debt servicing, and designate service stations where oil at subsidized prices could be bought.
“We should keep gasoline rates fixed for a certain time, and only have them rise every month. The government should therefore pay a subsidy for the difference between the fixed rate and the market rates,” he said.
Palace defends subsidies
Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. Tuesday said the government had tapped the P114 billion in unprogrammed funds in the 2008 national budget for the one-time P500 power subsidy to lifeline power consumers.
Andaya said the unprogrammed funds or “standby appropriation” contained “lump-sum amounts which have specific purposes.”
Andaya explained that unprogrammed funds in the General Appropriations Act were “released only when revenues generated exceed the targeted revenues as enunciated under the Budget of Expenditures and Sources of Financing.”
Speaking at a meeting with her economic advisers, Ms Arroyo said “short-term” measures were being implemented by the government to mitigate the impact of rising oil and food prices on the poor.
But she said these must be followed by long-term measures to bolster the country’s food and energy security.
Speaker Prospero Nograles said the food and fuel crises justified the release of funds for the government subsidies.
Nograles said the legal issues being raised by some lawmakers in connection with the subsidies could be addressed later on. With reports from TJ Burgonio and Norman Bordadora
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