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Message 5375
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| Subject: | [socialcredit] Cruelty of Poverty, Food & Money Crisis Under Debt Finance by E. Encina | | Date: | Tuesday, April 29, 2008 20:31:02 (-0700) | | From: | Eric Encina <ericencina @.....com>
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THE CRUELTY OF POVERTY, FOOD CRISIS AND MONEY CRISIS IN 2008 IN THE PHILIPPINES UNDER DEBT-BASED MONETARY SYSTEM
By: Eric V. Encina Philippines is in the acute food/rice and money crisis under the present
debt money system in the Philippines. Millions of poor Filipinos are now acutely suffering in the savage cruelty of poverty, food and money crisis in 2008
and within the span of 2 years time. Imported rice is very expensive. Even there would be tons of imported rice, if the
majority of the Filipino people are in the savage cruelty of poverty and acute
money problems, they cannot afford to buy increasing prices of rice. The shortage of local Filipino rice and the costly price of imported price of
Vietnam and Thailand rice and lately the plan to import American rice, and
the increasing cost production or price of bread, is devastating to poor Filipino
families that get them deeper in the dungeon of poverty and despair.
Rice is imported from foreign
countries paid from foreign loans from the bankers and financiers. Imported rice
is expensive and most Filipino families below poverty threshold cannot afford.
For almost 2 months, the Philippine government has been negotiating to import or buy 1.5 MILLION tons of rice from Vietnam
alone, and followed by imported rice from Thailand and under negotiation to
import US Rice under
debt finance program to US financiers, that is to meet the staple
rice food shortfall in 2008. Imported rice from Vietnam alone is
costing around Philippine Peso 60 Billion or more or less US$1 Billion which is
roughly equivalent of the 2008 total value of the Value Added Tax (E-VAT)
collections for fuel which would put the Philippine government in a very
tight spot of choosing between a "balanced budget or a balanced
diet". It is terrible enough that the Philippine GOVERNMENT NEEDS or is being pressed TO BORROW MONEY AT INTEREST TO
FOREIGN US BANKS and financiers or lenders to buy rice imports or buy rice from
USA and from other countries. Further borrowings overseas cannot solve the
problems of food and money crisis in the Philippines. This is another MAJOR PROBLEM HERE IS THAT THE MONEY TO
BE USED TO PAY THE IMPORT OF RICE FROM VIETNAM WHICH IS MORE THAN THE BUDGET OF
ANY GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT IN 2008, WHICH IS SECOND TO PAYMENT OF INTEREST TO IMF
AND WB, IS THE MONEY COMING FROM FOREIGN BORROWINGS AT INTEREST!
The
balanced budget target of the
Philippine government for 2008 would be more impossible and is a delusion when the payments of interest to foreign and international banks and the
import of rice are of the priority items. Poor Filipinos are
without choice to eat the lowest quality NFA rice they buy lining up under the
summer heat of the sun. Mostly are lining up for foods from government agency-based retail stores
in most Philippine provinces but mostly in the capital region of Metro
Manila there are over 7 million poor Filipinos. The problem is: NFA rice is without nutritive value and not even good and consumable to
animals in the Western world. How come like this? FOOD CRISIS AND MONEY CRISIS - are the two most fearful
things of all. If ever there are available foods in the Philippines for
sale locally produced in the national level or from imports, majority of
Filipinos can hardly afford due to increasing prices and the losing value of
Philippine peso money plus the problem of unemployment. THERE ARE ALREADY 10
MILLION FILLIPINOS SCATTERED IN 200 COUNTRIES ACROSS THE GLOBE FINDING FOR
SURVIVAL AND working for a living and sending aid or money back to the
Philippines for the survival of their poor relatives and families. Brain drain
continues and 5,000 to 10,000 Filipinos alone
applying for overseas daily for migration or immigration or employment
purposes. This is now very alarming to most
of us that after years of exporting of Philippine best products to foreign
lands as pressured by competitive globalization and of
course by huge national domestic and foreign debts and the aims to get
US$dollars and other major currency revenues from imports to SERVICE the foreign
debts, Philippines is now in the very serious edge of food crisis in times of dry
seasons. And in view of the worsening food crisis in the
Philippines and fearfully all over the world, and as aggravated by deeply
entrenched financial-economic crisis and nasty-muddy politics under the present
debt money system, most poor Filipino families, men, women, fathers, mothers,
children are in the most critical situation. Food/Rice crisis would
continue to ensue in the Philippines and reportedly would take to be
resolved in 2 years time unless there would be some imported food aid or there
would be a prioritized national agricultural development efforts.
Why it is happening in the Philippines? It is
happening because the Philippine Government did not and does not
prioritize the local economic development for sustainable living for the Filipino
people. The Government has borrowed so much of Billions dollars, of yen, or
Euros, or pounds sterling, etc. as it is a debt-addict in vicious cycles for the
payments of interest and further borrowings again and again while billions of
money from loans did not, do not feed down to the poor and the needy but for
chicaneries, scamming and racketeering projects, for funding political ambitions,
parties and maintaining power. THE GOVERNMENT, PRESSURED OR UNDER CONTROL OF THE
FOREIGN, INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS, MULTINATIONAL CORPORATIONS for
their own insatiable interest, greed and avarice, has intensified the IMPORTS OF
OUR BEST PRODUCTS TO FOREIGN LANDS for foreign currency revenues as mandated by
globalizations, but
alas, to pay debts to foreign and international banks. Poor
Filipino farmers have been neglected around 20 million all over the Philippines. Agricultural or farming land are idled. Local farming industry
has been neglected and even destroyed by the interest of the multinational
corporations promoting GMO and chemically-based farming and being pressured by
debt-financed that these poor farmers get hooked to chemicals and un-repayable debts. Organic farming has been totally neglected
and even discouraged. There has been no any subsidy for real for the poor
Filipino farmers. My grandparents died as poor Filipino farmers without any
subsidy from the government. Most of my family members in the villages and in the
provinces are in poverty. Farming is not sustainable. Even the efforts to
initiate for change is a great challenge. Natural fertility of the soil is
damaged. However, I believe there is a solution coming forth. What we need to reform the money system to make more workable for the people
and thus would provide economic security towards self-sustainability and
right livelihood without pressures from debt finance. Second is to promote the
naturally-organic methods of food growing for survival and livelihood.
THE CRUELTY OF EATING LESS: Involuntary Fasting? The Philippine government is now directing poor Filipinos to eat less rice or just eat any wild yam or any root crops –
which of course be of help for short-term but not for the long-term.
Government officials say Filipinos should eat less and less in the face of
rice food shortage. This is not acceptable. If we could re-read the history of
French Revolution, and prior to that, the French Queen, known for her unbridled
extravagance, asked an official why the people were rioting. The official
answered, "BECAUSE THEY LACK BREAD." Queen Mari Antoinette rejoined. " IF THEY
DON'T HAVE BREAD, LET THEM EAT CAKE." But
these government officials and bankers, economists are well-fed. We are told to
eat root-crops only. Can we survive only on root crops daily? Rice is our staple
food. Steaks, poultry and fish fillets are simply beyond the reach of many poor
Filipinos. Even vegetables from chemically-based farming are expensive;
besides they don't stave off hunger for long. WHO showed that 33% of Filipino
children are stunted and more than 20% are underweight because of under
nutrition. Only 2.4 % of the children are overweight, giving us an idea of the
portion of rich Filipino families in relation to total
starving Filipino population. HOW THE POOR FILIPINOS EAT
AND SURVIVE? The poor kind of fancy foods without
nutritive value and are contaminated by life and health-destroying or killing
chemicals and preservatives usually eaten in most Filipino poor family dining
tables, the worn-out and nasty houses lived in the detestably shanty and squatter
areas by the great multitude of poor Filipinos, the scarcity or very little
availability of local, regional and national employment, the deteriorating health
conditions and the problems of expensive education under racketeering systems,
the huge indebtedness of the government, of the businesses, individuals,
families, the super-chaotic political problems and lies, rampant and notorious
violence and heinous crimes everywhere, the pestiferous rebellion-insurgency
problems in the countryside, millions of poor farmers suffering dire poverty,
diseases and loss of income, hundreds of thousands of prostitutes scattered here
and abroad under the syndicated profit-making and racketeering trade flesh and
pornography, millions of
suffering children victimized by child hard labor, physical and sexual abuses,
millions of unborn and born children, mothers and their families victimized by
Western imperialism of life-destroying and killing well-funded artificial
population control and vaccination programs, and finally the declining
spirituality and morality of Filipino people are the indeed the real reflection
of the anti-life/family economic system and policies in the country. The present
Philippine situation can tell the real story about the economic health of the
Filipino people. Because of
the debt-based-fuelled economic system and policies and the savage cruelty of
never-ending monetary injustice of the present financial system, 64% to 80% of
Filipino people in our enormously debt-ridden nation are perpetually under the
vicious atrocities of dreadful poverty and long-standing financial hemorrhage.
The worst common indicators of our unhealthy economy and lack of human and social
development under the present system are the increasing desperate colonies of
slums even along trash dumps, the squatters almost everywhere, dangerous
dwellings along heavily polluted and frequently flooded river banks and areas,
over dirty canals, along dangerous rails and under steps and bridges. The typical or most employed Filipinos in the Philippine
Government here complain bitterly working 8 hours a day at P250 to P300
daily or $5 to $6 daily but they have to pay 10 % WITHOLDING TAX, then when they
buy groceries in increasing prices, the GOVERNMENT TAKES another 10% to 12% of
Expanded Value Added Tax or E-VAT away plus 12% E-VAT to other basic needs like
medicines and services like hospitalizations, electric/light/water and to
some telephone bills. When they pay their income taxes,
there is still more
cash out because the Philippine government takes at least 1/3 of an
employees yearly salary. UNDER THE PRESENT SYSTEM, IT IS VERY CLEAR, IT'S
LEGALISED HIGHWAY ROBBERY! Taxation is a legalized robbery, and is the bitter
fruit of the present outmoded financial-economic system based on debt. There is a never-ending rat-race between earning and spending
because of the unfair system of finance. It is a race that we seem
we can't win. We are in the race trap, in poverty trap and in debt trap,
beggary trap under the system. Hunger, and starvation of poor families too
rampant in the villages, in the provinces and in the countryside. This is the crazy system of debt finance. We are being killed
slowly. It is my proposal that debts be totally cancelled and
interest payments scrapped or stopped. Most debts are odious and the country paid
more than too much at the cost of human life. We are starving our children
because of the dictatorial demands of the IMF and WB. Philippine Government must create debt free money in Philippine Peso
and provide security to every one in the form of extra basic income or
dividend or supplementary basic income for survival of the inhabitants,
to emancipate and prevent poverty traps, money needed for the improvement and
development of the Philippine villages to sustainability, for the alternative
education, and even for the consideration of the payment of legitimate
debts overseas by converting debt-free Philippine money peso created into US$
value than borrowing further expensive US dollars to pay for US$ debts.
THE PROGRAMME THAT PHILIPPINES CAN ONLY
BUY RICE FROM USA by borrowing money at interest to US financiers is another
trap. That program cannot solve the problem but can
potentially aggravate further. This is a kind of manipulation and intimidation.
In other words, Philippines can only be qualified to a program if it would borrow
money from the US lenders. The nasty-muddy politics and
debt-based-fuelled financial-economic system have also divided the Filipino
people in the last two generations. Political parties with their vested interest
under the economic and financial manipulators create tremendous division among
our peoples. The country is disastrously divided into as many interests,
oftentimes conflicting, ambitions destructive to others, bickering groups as
there are political groups in nemesis today and organizations promoting the
culture of death and vested interest for their own insatiable interest and
profits. Profit or money-making is now the primary thing in the mind of trading
individuals or corporations mostly private banking institutions, usurious lending
agencies and individuals, national and multinational corporations being hi-jacked
by the tycoons and global manipulators for controlling money and the population.
Immoral profit is now the most important motivator and regulator of the life of
our economy and business, without any pity, heart and conscience in skinning
alive the poorest of the poor and in perpetually victimizing the innocents.
Chaotic and divisive Philippine politics
and debt-based/anti-life economic system have been the most obstructive elements
to progress and prosperity in the Philippine society, local and national. Crooked
systems and policies have corrupted the Filipino people and almost affecting the
next generations. Our Christian culture, per se, Catholic
culture, has been severely damaged by wicked systems, crazy reforms and unjust
policies. Moral corruption has seeped into behavior and values of
our people where once our ancestors have treasured.
Filipinos are faced with insurmountable problems and challenges. Are we capable
of meeting such terrible situations? How can we liberate ourselves from the
savage cruelty of poverty and economic miseries, not just daily hunger? How can
we rectify the wrong systems and policies? How can we change the hearts of men
for the better?
All these are seemed to be despairing but there is always HOPE in the Lord of
Life. Our survival and freedom from evil systems and policies and liberation from
poverty are a possibility for all in the Philippines . It is our very serious
obligation. Our Holy Father Pope John Paul II taught that those who heed the cry
of the poor, and who help the poor to meet their needs are the APOSTLES OF
GENUINE DEVELOPMENT which is found in an economy adjusted to the welfare of the
human person (especially the poor mothers, children and families victimized by
poverty and injustice) and in the daily sustenance provided for all. Survival and improvement of the poorest and most
neglected in our nation is at the very heart of Christian Evangelization. This is
the mission of all Christians especially Catholics. This is our serious task
with everlasting dimension. GIVE AND SHARE FOR LIFE AND
SOUL – is the heart of the Gospel of Jesus
Christ. This is a certain way to Heaven. ‘Amen, amen I say to you, so long as
you did it to the least of these, my little ones, you did it to Me.’
THE SOLUTION For many years of
my mission for economic/monetary reform and justice in the Philippines, I have
been clamorously, consistently and
insistently campaigning for major solutions to poverty but alas I have been
smugly ignored by the Philippine government officials, politicians and
economists, discouraged by the Catholic Church officials and religious leaders
and unsupported by fellow laypeople, muted by fellow Catholic, Christian and
Non-Sectarian activists, other campaigners and missionaries, adroitly conspired
by the financiers, and contradicted by the population controllers and rich
peoples. In this article, I must repeat the major solutions
to cure poverty by monetary reform policies and economic alternatives or let
me say the new science of economics--of liberation and economic democracy.
1. Philippine Government must create its own money debt and interest free.
Stop borrowing money at interest to private/foreign/international banks. Write
off the debts since the government, by the increasing taxes of the Filipinos, has
already paid the bankers more than enough. Payment of interest and debt at the
cost of life of the poor and the innocent children is a crime against Heaven and
humanity itself. Philippine national debt comprising of domestic and foreign is
almost closed to US$200
Billion and in fact increasing monthly or annually with US$7-10 Billion of
interest payment annually causing tremendous vicious cycles of inflationary
pressures, economic depression, devaluation of Philippine currency, bankruptcy,
corruptions, exorbitant taxes, financial hemorrhage, savage cruelty of monetary
and material poverty and unnamed horrors of death of the poor Filipino families
and children usually unreported in the countryside. Every five year,
Philippine government is pressured by the IMF to pay membership subscription
renewal payment of US$500 Million more or less at to be precise, this year end of
around P13 Billion. Membership renewal payment is mandatory to all IMF-members to
stay in memberships in borrowing money. The government is
pressured to look for money to pay the membership dues by issuance of bonds or
promissory notes. One of the reasons why government is contracting bilateral
debts to other foreign and international banks and finding ways to collect more
taxes from the people to satisfy the conditions and prescriptions of the IMF and
other global bankers. Debt is evil under the present anti-life/family
financial-economic system – indeed a ravaging disease in the so-called civilized
human economy of the first world nations, dreadfully contaminating the poor
nations with hundreds of millions of people in untold miseries and casualties
more than any natural calamities, wars and terrorism attacks combined in the
world. Debt is a wicked instrument of evil one to control peoples and money. And
because of debt-related problems, poor Filipino families and children are dying
in dreadful poverty, hunger, illnesses and violence. And what is also ironic is
that loans of rich nations under
the supervision and management of IMF and WB have string-attached of
conditionality, immoral and potentially life-destroying-killing population
control program using so many deceptive and adroit strategies and soft words to
pressure Filipino government and the people to legalize abortion, same-sex
marriage, euthanasia and divorce and it is also aggravated by the mandatory
vaccination program to poor mothers and children with tremendous side-effects and
death. Stop borrowing money at interest to private and
international banks. Create our own money debt and interest free. This is the
solution. The
Holy Father himself wrote in his Bull Incarnationis Mysterium that: “THE HUMAN
RACE IS FACING FORMS OF SLAVERY (DEBT SLAVERY) WHICH ARE NEW AND MORE SUBTLE THAN
THOSE OF THE PAST; AND FOR TOO MANY PEOPLE FREEDOM REMAINS A WORD WITHOUT
MEANING. SOME NATIONS, ESPECIALLY THE POORER ONES, ARE OPPRESSED BY A DEBT SO
HUGE THAT REPAYMENT IS PRACTICALLY IMPOSSIBLE”. And because of debt, the Holy
Father wrote further that: “EXTREME POVERTY IS A SOURCE OF VIOLENCE, BITTERNESS
AND SCANDAL; AND TO ERADICATE IT, IS TO DO THE WORK OF JUSTICE (write-off the
debt) AND THEREFORE THE WORK OF PEACE.” The Holy Father repeatedly calls for the
cancellation of debts of the poor nations but this call remains muted, ignored
and disdained by the world financial authorities. Stop Life-wasting-killing, soul-destroying and
financially-crazy-wasting, health-destroying population control programs in the Philippines . Millions to billions of money for many years for immoral and
life-killing population control program have been a colossal wastage of
money, a form of outstanding and pernicious financial insanity. Money could be
used otherwise to save millions (15 Million) identified poor Filipino families,
children, sick, aged, disabled and homeless Filipinos in the countryside groaning
and moaning in poverty and financial hemorrhage daily. And what is also ironic is
that rich-nations are munificently funding population control programs in the Philippines just like in other third world nations, and certainly
by the methods of contraceptives and abortion, they are killing the innocent
unborn children and the poor mothers, and if alive, suffering tremendous
side-effects in lifetime miseries. Money, as willed by God, must be used for life
and for good as one of the surest ways to curing poverty in the Philippines
and in the whole world. Abortion and contraception are twin evils. Stop it all!
Poverty cannot be remedied by killing the unborn and by artificially controlling
the population. Culture of death and injustice are about miseries and reaching
out to hell. STOP ABORTION! STOP POPULATION CONTROL PROGRAM! STOP WASTAGE OF
MONEY! STOP FINANCIAL-ECONOMIC INJUSTICE TO THE POOR AND THE NEEDY! PROMOTE LIFE,
TRUTH, CHARITY, JUSTICE, PEACE, AND ABOVE ALL REMAIN IN THE DIVINE GRACE OF GOD
FOR OUR EVERLASTING DESTINY. Bear in mind that “GOD IS THE ONE WHO MADE ALL
THINGS, AND ALL THINGS ARE FOR HIS GLORY. HE WANTED TO HAVE MANY CHILDREN SHARE
HIS GLORY.” Hebrews 2:10a (NCV). And “SEE HOW VERY MUCH OUR HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES
US, FOR HE ALLOWS US TO BE CALLED HIS CHILDREN, AND WE REALLY ARE!” – 1 John 3:1
(NLT) Financial – Economic Security Or Financial – Economic
Bill of Rights For The Poor Filipino families In The Form of Supplementary Basic
Income/Financial Family Subsidy/Permanent Tax Credit/Family’s Extra Income or
Family’s Pension or Family Dividend Program.
ANOTHER PRAGMATIC SOLUTIONS: TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM OF
HUNGER AND FOOD SHORTAGE IN THE PHILIPPINES, I have the following proposals
before it could be totally catastrophic.
1. STOP PAYMENT OF INTEREST to foreign
debts
2. Stop borrowing
3. Create our own money debt free
4. Distribute extra
basic income or supplementary basic
income or citizen's income to every citizen
5. Stop excessive exportation of
Philippine products
6. Prioritize agricultural or farming development in the
villages and in the countryside
7. Provide annual subsidy to the poor farming
families for local development
8. Allow groups of families or communities or
assist them to have their own local community currency without any barriers or
hindrances
9. The national peso currency must be raise its value and prices of
basic needs down.
10. Reduce if not abolish too much political parties that
divide peoples.
11. Filipinos must unite for the common good.
12. Reduce the
level of brain drain. Filipino Family Poverty is a long-standing cruelty
and financial hemorrhage, a disaster. This kind of poverty in the sense of family
destitution is not the will of God. Family life should not be miserable caused
by the present financial-economic/anti-life system and policies and the
heavy-duty evils of population control program. But there is a solution to
rebuild and strengthen the family life in support to Church’s spiritual and moral
support. Above all, family needs spiritual and moral life as well as education
but it must be secured by financial-economic-social security for temporal
survival. And here I propose for almost 10 years now that FAMILY SUPPLEMENTARY
BASIC INCOME or Financial Family Subsidy to help save poor families and prevent
further poverty . In this present world where money is a necessity for survival,
having no money means death of the family like what is presently happening in the
Philippine countryside without any aid from the National Government or local
government nor any assistance from the global economy. The only insane assistance
being presently distributed to the Filipino families is CONTRACEPTIVES AND
ABORTIFACIENTS-that only disastrously aggravate the family dismal situation
leading to terrible side-effects of diseases and death. “IMMEDIATELY WE ARE CONFRONTED BY THE GREAT POVERTY OF MOST FILIPINO
FAMILIES, UNABLE TO GAIN ACCESS TO THE BENEFITS OF DEVELOPMENTS SUCH AS HEALTH
AND EDUCATION. BECAUSE OF POVERTY FAMILIES BREAK UP, AS MEMBERS LOOK FOR WORK IN
OTHER COUNTRIES (7 Million Filipinos working overseas and more than 5,000
Filipinos are going abroad everyday in search of work and fortune for
the survival of their families in the Philippines ). WOMEN AND CHILDREN ARE
FORCED BY POVERTY TO WORK BEYOND THEIR PHYSICAL CAPABILITIES AND EVEN ENTER THE
DARK DENS OF FLESH TRADE.” (cf. Pope John Paul II, Message of Lent, 1994.
“INJUSTICE IN OUR ECONOMIC STRUCTURES THAT FAVOR
THE BETTER OFF SECTORS OF SOCIETY CAUSE MUCH OF THIS POVERTY.” (PCP II, pp.
276-277). Therefore, the only solution to help save
Filipino poor families is to demand Family Subsidy or Tax Credit or Supplementary
Family Income in the amount of $200 (P10,000 more or less) per month a form of
financial-economic security. This is urgent to save poor families and children in
the jaws of death of poverty. Family Tax Credit must be without discrimination,
unconditional or without means test to the poor families. It should not be
interpreted as a kind of dole-out but it is a right, a share of the abundance
of the country’s progress as every family or every member of the family is a
co-heir, co-capitalist and co-contributor of the country progress. And therefore
must have a share of the wealth of the nation in the form of family tax credit
not only because of citizenship but a human being created in the image and
likeness of God. God gives the abundance of this earth for free for us to use and
share according to His Commandments. And to apply this basic principle in the
modern world where poverty and economic injustice, per se, monetary injustice
exist in the paradox of plenty, there must be money as economic security
guaranteed for life to all poor Filipino families. THE
PROBLEM: NO MONEY FOR SUCH FILIPINO SUBSIDY? This is an
outmoded question. The Philippine resources are more than enough to feed the
entire Filipino population if only there is enough purchasing power. The problem
is not the lack of good, is not the lack of Divine Providence, but the lack
of justice and charity or some quarter, the absence of justice and charity. There
is no any valid reason
for any Filipino family to go hungry in the Philippines . Globally there is
no shortage of money nor locally only if money is not controlled by the banking
system. The government says no money for the poor families. Many economists and
people say there is no money for the poor families. Then, why is it millions to
billions of money for years are wasted for life-killing population control
programs? Why is it BILLIONS OF DOLLARS are prioritized to pay interest to
International Bankers on which the country has paid more than enough for many
cruel years at the cost of human life and destruction of our morality, culture
and environment? MUST WE ALLOW THE DEATH OF THE FILIPINO FAMILIES AND STARVATION
OF OUR CHILDREN JUST TO SATISFY PAYMENTS OF INTEREST TO GLOBAL FINANCIAL MAFIA
AND MANIPULATORS? Hundreds to billions to trillions of money are circulating
daily in the whole world but only for the
benefit of the bankers, multinational corporations, tycoons and for evil
purposes like pornography, drug and sex trafficking in the world.
Why do UNPFA and USAID and other organizations, agencies
and individuals have plenty of money for abortion industry, for controlling the
population by means of chemical methods? And yet there is no any money provided
for the poor families in the quagmire of dreadful poverty. Philippine government has no any subsidy for agriculture or
has cut down in the past due to pressures from WESTERN GOVERNMENTS THAT WANT US
TO RELY ON THEM for our food needs, under the guise of "globalization". Philippines has once exported rice but now in dire need to import
rice. Our government officials are so blinded by neocolonial patronage that they
can't see the effects of imports just dollar revenues for payments of interest
and for neglecting local farming and agriculture. So our Filipino people are
starving.
The debt money system is the major culprit and responsible for
this worsening mess in the country. DEBT free money creation and the restoration
to organic farming from the debt-free finance of the government are of the
solutions to prevent hunger. Globalization and debt-fuelled economy are driving
us crazy and hungry. THERE IS NO POINT TO PAY THE DEBTS TO IMF AND WB BOTH
INTEREST AND THE CAPITAL. The country has paid more than too much. Better to kill
us before doing that. ANIMAL SUBSIDY BUT NOTHING FOR POOR
HUMAN FAMILIES It looks like unfair that US and EU subsidize
their cows at $2 per day, more than what human being in the Philippines and
in many parts of the world earn in a day. In a newspaper reports of an article by
Hamish McRae wrote that EU subsidy for each of its cows is $913.00-which is
greater than the average income per head of the most Filipino families. The
Japanese subsidy is $2,700.00 per cow. And reportedly to support the US
American cotton farmers, the US government spends $4
BILLION a year of subsidies, which is greater than the value of the cotton
itself. Well, I am not also unfair and I do not say that we
should not at all subsidize the animals as animals are also created and
provided by God for our good. But the logic is that if animal subsidy is possible
financially, WHY FAMILY SUBSDIDY FOR THE POOR IS NOT ALSO POSSIBLE LIKEWISE? Why
is it that permanent US tax credit to family and children in the US is not
also possible? And why Filipino
Family Subsidy is not possible when there are plenty of money for
contraceptives and abortion, for payments of interest and corruptions? It might
be good that in US and EU have subsidy to the farmers and to animals but there
should be for life and for the family. I have read that in Alaska, a US
territory, the residents receive a Citizen’s Income, that is, dividend to every
Alaskan member of the Family annually and also in Holland where pensioners
received a Citizen’s Pension and in Romania where there is a Government Family
Subsidy to low-income Romanian families. And reportedly this economic security
to the citizens is intended to prevent and even gradually cure poverty. In the UK , there are also so-called Family Supplemental Income and in the Republic of Ireland as well and probably in
other countries having similar policy existing for the better
financial-economic security of poor families. Family subsidy or
supplementary basic income to family can reduce and even replace all other
unnecessary subsidies-that do not work for the citizens. In the Philippines
, there is no any form of subsidy to the poor Filipino farmers and their
families. All over the Philippines , farming without any assistance from the
government is dying as a
way of modern life; many farms are untilled, awaiting conversions to
non-agricultural uses. It is good in EU and US, farmers are organized well to
mount a strong lobby to defend and protect their interests. Rich nations continue
to support the costly operations of their farmers through huge price-distorting
subsidies and tariff walls against cheaper imports. In the Philippines , the
situation is the opposite. More than 20 Million Filipino farmers and their
families are suffering terrible poverty, disabilities, injustice and hunger. WTO
is not for the poor farmers in the poor countries for the protection of
agricultural products of the rich nations. There is injustice in this trade
liberalization disastrously affecting the poor farmers and their families
especially the innocent children. Please read and pass it on. For any comments, suggestions or
correction or assistance, please send to: Eric V. Encina
Filipino Social Crediter/Monetary Reformer Filipino
Alternative Solutions For Sustainable Survival Movement c/o Lito Alhambra
Old House, Homesite, Km.2, Brgy. Lawa-an, PO Box 8 , 5800 Roxas
City , Capiz, Philippines Why a rice shortage in the Philippines? By MONG PALATINO
Column:
Peripheries
The price of rice is skyrocketing all over
the world. This trend will continue until the end of the year, and it is causing
panic in many Asian countries, including the Philippines. Why is rice getting more
expensive? The rice supply is decreasing. Floods in many Asian countries have
affected the rice output in the region. Rice exporting nations like Thailand and Vietnam have also reduced their exports to prioritize
their local needs. On the other hand, demand for rice has been increasing,
especially in India and China. The Philippines is one of the top importers of rice in the world. Rice is
a politically sensitive commodity in this country. It is not surprising that
reports of a rice shortage have energized political debate and public concern
regarding the economic policies of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. If the global supply of
rice is dwindling, what is being done to increase local production? In the first
place, why is the Philippines, which is predominantly an agricultural nation,
importing rice from other countries? An article entitled "Food
Security and Rice" by Dr. Onofre Corpuz provides some historical background on
the rice shortage in the Philippines. The article mentions the policies of the government
which have weakened the local rice industry. According
to Corpuz, the annual shortages in rice production should not be described as
"crises." The Philippines has been importing rice since the 1870s -- this is
more than 130 years. He blames government planning on food security for the
shortages in rice production.
When Spain decided to open Philippine ports in 1835, it allowed its
colony to trade non-rice products to other countries. There was a high demand for
cane sugar, molasses, indigo, abaca, tobacco and coffee. Rice farmers began to
plant these food items, and by 1870 there was already a rice shortage in the
country. The Philippines began importing rice from Indochina. During the
1890s, the Philippines was importing 45,000 tons of rice annually. Corpuz also mentioned the following reasons for the rice shortage during
the Spanish era: 1. A primitive rice culture, from
land preparation to harvesting; 2. A feudal system since the
Spanish conquest. Families who owned small plots did not enjoy property rights;
3. A religious culture that meant 100-120 days of "enforced
idleness," since work was banned during
Sundays, town feasts and church holidays; and 4. Farmers or sharecroppers
in haciendas (plantations) tilled small parcels of land yielding low output, thus
preventing any savings. The farmers were always in debt, and the Spanish
government had no assistance program for them. After the
Revolution of 1896 and the subsequent Philippine-American War, rice production
was very low. Many lands had been idled. The population of carabao – water
buffaloes that helped till the land -- was reduced. And many agricultural workers
died during the war. The
U.S. civilian government instituted economic measures to cope with the low
rice output. It fixed prices, bought foreign rice and undertook the distribution
of rice down to the barrio, or district, level. From 1901-36, the colonial
government bought 335.5 million pesos worth of rice. Corpuz
summed up the official policy of the U.S. government on agriculture: Producing
the export crops offered better returns than producing the country's rice
requirements domestically; therefore, the export crop sector must be promoted,
and, in the event of rice shortages, foreign rice was to be imported at as cheap
prices as possible. This led to the cultivation of more land for producing sugar,
abaca and coconut -- which produced raw materials needed by U.S. industries.
These products were allowed to enter the U.S. market without quota and
duty-free. The colonial regime neglected to provide rice farmers
with technological
programs to increase rice yields. U.S. officials collaborated with local
landlords in denying the right of small farmers to obtain property rights to
their lands. In 1931 Philippine Agriculture Secretary Rafael
Alunan reported that Indochina nations produced 2,200 kilos of rice per hectare,
while the Philippines produced only 1,225 kilos. He also claimed that the Philippines was behind Java by 30 years in terms of scientific and
technological support for
agriculture. Corpuz could not understand the low priority given
to rice farmers despite the fact that during this period, "the rice sector was
the largest sector in the Philippine economy in terms of value of product, labor
force engaged and number of families dependent on the sector for their
livelihood, and hectarage covered." Corpuz wrote that the
policies of price controls and rice imports were done to keep rice prices low
"for the benefit of
salaried government employees and the service population of Manila, and to
keep the food costs of labor in the export agriculture and domestic manufacturing
sectors low." This brief history of the rice sector can shed
light on the numerous periods of agrarian unrest in the country. It can also
correct the wrong notion that the Philippines was a rice exporting nation or
that it has been teaching other Asians how to increase rice productivity. The
article can help explain the rice and food shortages that the Philippines are
experiencing today. Something is wrong with an economic policy that prioritizes
the planting of cash crops to be exported to other countries over the planting of
food crops needed by the people who are suffering from hunger. Instead of increasing local rice production, the government is
dependent on imported rice. Since joining the World Trade Organization in 1995,
the
Philippines has become Asia's top rice importer with average annual imports
of over 1 million metric tons. Rice lands are also disappearing
because of land conversion. The government today, like the Spanish and American
colonial governments of the past, has been persuading farmers to plant cash crops
and other export products. Big landlords are also converting farmland into golf
courses, residential villages, and agro-industrial parks to apply for exemption
from the land distribution program of the government. The rice
problem is made worse by rice smuggling. Unscrupulous rice traders collude with
politicians and agricultural officials in hoarding rice supplies. This creates an
artificial crisis which jacks up the price of rice. Corruption is also to be
blamed. In the 2004 elections, President Arroyo distributed millions in
fertilizer funds to her loyal supporters. The money could have been used to
improve rice productivity. Rice is the staple food of Filipinos.
Remove it from the tables and there will be mass unrest. Blaming the weather and
the limited
global supply to explain the rice shortage is not enough. The government has to
abandon its agricultural liberalization program and its overdependence on rice
imports. The government must adopt emergency measures to increase the rice output
of farmers. The time has come to implement a genuine agrarian reform.
©Copyright Mong Palatino.) --
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