Anakpawis blasts Bongbong Marcos for ‘lack of solution’ to rising poverty

Anakpawis president Ariel Casilao. FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the growing number of poor families, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has “no solution” to poverty, progressive group Anakpawis said on Wednesday.

The group’s remark came after the Social Weather Stations released the results of its self-rated poverty survey, which showed that the number of families claiming they were poor rose to 48 percent in June from 43 percent in April.

READ: 12.2M Filipino families felt ‘poor’ in Q2 of 2022 — SWS survey

“Lumalala ang kahirapan, pero wala pa ring nararamdaman ang mga mahihirap na sektor na kongkretong solusyon mula sa bagong rehimen,” Anakpawis Party-list National President Ariel Casilao said in a statement.

(Poverty worsens, and people from poor sectors haven’t felt a concrete solution from the new regime.)

“Patuloy pa rin ang land grabbing sa mga sakahang lumilikha ng pagkain at kabuhayan sa mga magsasaka, mababang sahod at endo sa mga manggagawa, at kawalang ayuda. Malala nga rin na sa problema pa lang ng inflation ay itinanggi pa ito ni Marcos Jr. nitong Hulyo. Samakatuwid, hindi niya sosolusyonan,” he continued.

(Land grabbing is still ongoing in fields that create food and livelihood for farmers as well as the low income, end of the contract, and lack of aid. What’s worse is that the problem of inflation was disregarded by Marcos Jr. this July. Therefore, he won’t give any solution.)

The group noted that continuous oil price hikes — which led to increases in the price of goods, food production, and cost of living — are the root cause of the persisting economic crisis.

Citing data from the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas and fishers group Pamalakaya, Casilao noted that the cost of production for fishing and palay swelled by P3,800 and P8,000 per month, respectively, due to fuel price hikes.

“Walang ipinangakong ayuda si Marcos Jr., kundi puro pautang sa baon na nga sa utang na mga magsasaka at mangingisda. Kaya siguradong malulugi ang mga food producers, habang ang mga malalaking trader ay patuloy na magtataas ng presyo at mag-iimport pa,” Casilao said.

(Marcos Jr. did not promise any aid but only loans for farmers and fishermen who are already in debt. As a result, food producers will surely lose profit while big-time traders continuously increase the fuel price and will still import.)

According to Casilao, they have been trying to raise their concern about soaring fuel price hikes for the past year.

“Pero dahil pawang tuta ng dayuhang monopolyo ang nasa gubyerno, hinayaan lang nila ito, at ngayon ay tinatamaan na ang mga mahihirap na sektor,” Casilao said.

(But because people in the government are like followers of the foreign monopoly, they just tolerated it, and now it affects the poor sectors).

Casilao then reiterated their call to suspend value-added and excise taxes on oil products.

He also calls on the government to provide a P15,000 production subsidy to sectors of farmers and fisherfolk to help them from bankruptcies and boost food production and P10,000 cash aid to low-income families and workers. — Andy Hoo, INQUIRER.net trainee