the 2013 budget proposal remains blind to the roots of poverty

“The continuing plague of poverty and joblessness makes the poor more vulnerable to the effects of inflation. Women suffer more because she is traditionally the keeper of the purse. Isipin mo kung paano sila magbabadyet samantalang wala naman silang pera?” said Gabriela Women's Party Rep. Emmi De Jesus on the NSO report that the buying power of Filipinos has gone down by two centavos as the rise in prices of goods and services eroded the peso's real value.

“As they continue to scrape life from poverty, the government remains blind to the clamor of the poor for immediate relief such as the removal of VAT on basic goods and commodities and other basic social services. The government also refuses to heed their decade-old call for P125 wage increase,” added the Gabriela solon.

As the President feeds the Filipino people with illusions of positive numbers and promises through the 2013 budget proposal, a closer study reveals that the budget proposal caters more to the export-oriented industries than to the creation of strategic local industries that will create more jobs. With the 2013 budget, the President has exposed himself as a key actor in making the lives of Filipinos more miserable. The Aquino administration’s economic program failed to benefit the poor Filipinos because of its refusal to address long-term solutions to the country’s economic woes. What he offers the poor instead, are the monstrous bits of CCT crumbs that he deceptively markets as the ultimate solution to poverty,” ended De Jesus.