Benguet farms continue to produce the semi-temperate vegetables that traders sell at the Baguio market or ship down to Metro Manila and its neighboring communities in this photo taken on Jan. 4, 2022. (EV ESPIRITU / Inquirer Northern Luzon)
MANILA, Philippines — The government should prioritize agriculture to achieve a zero poverty rate in the Philippines, former Sen. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said in a taped interview on “The Chatroom” that aired on Saturday on state-run PTV.
The show was anchored by Erwin Tulfo and Presidential Operations Secretary Martin Andanar.
They asked the presidential candidate what his target poverty rate was.
“Zero. Of course, zero,” Marcos said.
“You always work for the ideal that we will all do so that there will be nobody who is suffering poverty. No more hunger. Basically, no more hunger. And that’s when agriculture comes in,” he said, speaking in a mix of Filipino and English.
“We were forced — because of the pandemic — to neglect our agriculture. So our food supply was no longer enough,” Marcos added.
To correct the situation, he said: “First, we have to assure the food supply. Then we have to assure what we call again food security — that we can be assured that no matter what we can get food, whether it comes from importation, whether it comes from local, whatever means available.”
“Then, we have to attain food sovereignty. All our needs here in the Philippines should be supplied here in the country as well,” he added.
In December last year, the government reported that the poverty rate rose to 23.7 percent in the first half of 2021 amid expensive food and high unemployment.