Speaker vows passage of bill on poverty eradication

MANILA, Philippines - Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. vowed yesterday the immediate passage of a bill seeking to increase the participation of non-government organizations, the private sector, and the public in eradicating poverty and promoting economic growth.

Belmonte said House Bill 4374, the Filipino Volunteerism in Nation Building Bill, of which he is co-author, is a blueprint for a poverty-free Philippines by 2024.

“It will not be an easy journey, but we can do it by making every Filipino a nation builder,” he said.

Belmonte said the challenges include an economy anchored on frail economic fundamentals reflected by a budget deficit hitting the P325-billion mark ending 2010, with 34 percent of the population jobless, and a high poverty rate of 26 percent.

All these will have a negative impact on whatever poverty alleviation programs are currently being implemented and those lined up for the coming years, he added.

Belmonte and his co-authors said the goal of HB 4374 is to encourage the private sector to be a supporter of government, not just a critic, to restore the faith of citizens in government institutions.

“This can be done through collaboration and cooperation, for the private sector to go beyond partisan politics, religious and ideological differences and business rivalries,” they said.

The House committee on people’s participation chaired by Manila Rep. Benjamin Asilo has set its first public hearing on the bill on May 11, two days after resumption of the regular session of Congress.

The Constitution and the Local Government Code are replete with provisions on the critical role of civil societies, non-government organization, volunteer groups and people’s organizations, among others, in harnessing the limited national and natural resources and its productive citizenry in the war against poverty and other social inequities.

In the Philippines, Belmonte noted that Gawad Kalinga (GK) “has trail blazed the socio-economic-political frontiers of society by employing a unique tool for change called ‘social engineering’.”

“Social engineering exemplifies the bayanihan spirit of volunteerism watered by caring or kalinga, both are indigenous Filipino practices/traits that can be traced to our pre-colonial forefathers,” the authors of the bill said.

The lawmakers said GK as an emerging Philippine and Asian model of development has been instrumental as the “converging point for multi-sectoral partnerships.”

The organization is also a template for good governance engaged in community building through shelter and other infrastructure programs; community child, youth and maternal health; child and youth education; community entrepreneurship, livelihood and micro-finance; food sufficiency; gender equality and women empowerment; peace efforts; culture, eco-tourism and environmental preservation and protection, they said.

“All these socio-economic themed programs are in line with the eight-point Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which the Philippines, as a signatory to the United Nations Millennium Declaration, has committed to achieve by the year 2015,” Belmonte said.

In line with the Fiscal Responsibility Policy of Government, HB 4374 provides that the Department of Budget and Management, in coordination with the Department of Finance, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs and the Bureau of Treasury, shall ensure the allocation of funds for the sustained and continued operations of all the components of the Act, to be earmarked from the Value-Added Tax (VAT).

“Building viable, sustainable and empowered communities in the Philippines embodies the faith that Filipinos will end poverty through: (1) public-private partnerships; (2) simultaneous ground-up and top-down development initiatives; (3) rich and poor working together, bridging the social gap; and (4) the principle of the ‘best for the least’ and preferential option for the least fortunate, giving those at the bottom of the social and economic pyramid upward aspirations to build a broader middle-class with enlightened leadership from the government and private sectors,” they said.

Other co-authors of HB 4374 are Representatives Freddie Tinga, Neptali Gonzales, II, Rufus Rodriguez, Rodollfo Valencia, Juan Edgardo Angara, Hermilando Mandanas, Deputy Speakers Raul Daza Jesus Crispin Remulla, Ma. Isabel Climaco, House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman, Lucy Torres-Gomez, Winston Castelo, Henedina Abad, Amado Bagatsing, Jorge John Banal, Jr., Bernadette Herrera-Dy and Fatima Aliah Dimaporo.