Poverty bred by political and criminal violence

The World Bank has pinpointed conflict and violence as a major cause of poverty. In a study published recently (in this paper, among others), it says that some 1.5 billion people worldwide are “trapped in dire poverty” because of political and criminal violence. Here’s a portion of WB’s 2011 World Development Report: “People living in fragile states are twice likely to be undernourished and 50 percent more likely to be impoverished. And their children are three times likely to be out of school”.

Poverty, malnutrition, out of school children – are these not the major problems in this country? It’s true we are far from being a fragile state, but we are a state with a fragile economy, thanks to unceasing political infighting, insurgency and a secessionist movement in Mindanao.

In an SWS survey released this month the following statistics appears: 51 percent or 10.4 million families said they were “mahirap” or poor, a figure two points higher than last year’s 49 percent; 20.5 percent of the respondents or 4.1 million families confessed they experienced hunger once in the last 3 months; 40 percent of the families or 8.1 million rated themselves “food poor”, a percentage which used to be only 36 last year.

This situation has adversely affected the school system where the drop-out rate is high (7 percent in the elementary and 8 percent in the high school), not to mention the low academic performance of students.

As the wolves of poverty proliferate and haunt more than half of Filipino households, as malnutrition afflicts more than 40 million of our people, and as their children blunder along in schooling and drop-out from the system in great numbers, what do our leaders in Congress do? Craft on RH bill to stymie population growth. Traditionally a high rising population used to be blamed for extensive poverty, despite the fact that many countries with high demographic density are economically stable. But the current approach, as depicted by WB in its report, zeros in on conflicts and instability as the culprit.

Yet some honorable gentlemen of Congress have doggedly clung to the passé idea that to improve the country’s economic posture and tamp down the incidence of poverty birth control should be institutionalized. Birth control to the extent of marketing abortifacient materials or worse, tolerating the murder of fetuses in their mothers’ wombs, a blatant disregard of the Filipinos’ moral culture and a suicidal swing to the culture of death.

Simplistic is the word for the RH initiative. Its proponent seems to be looking at the trees and not the forest. Their thinking seems to be: Reduce the number of Filipinos and prosperity will be at hand, never mind peace and order, never mind corruption and political skirmishes.

This WB report should be an eye opener to those congressional proponents of RH bill as well as to those so-called Christian Filipinos who are supporting this bill. It should make them realize that in the context of today’s socio-political situation, there are measures which should be given priority over and above population control. These measures, to paraphrase the same WB report, are: Investment in citizen security, upholding of justice and provision for employment. To accomplish these institutional reforms is needed to effect the necessary change.

Now the question, what has Congress done to minimize criminality and lawlessness so that the average Filipino could feel secured? Any observer of the current social situation cannot help but be alarmed by the ever increasing incidents of killing happening in urban and countryside areas. Guns-for-hire seem to be on the rampage targeting private citizens and government functionaries. Carnapping, kidnapping, drug peddling, and other forms of illegal activities have become regular fares in media reports.

What has Congress done to address these? And what about the worsening joblessness which has driven some 8 million of our countrymen to seek jobs abroad and expose themselves to all sorts of peril? Has the present crop of senators and representatives along with the President come up with a no-nonsense move to create more jobs?

As alarming social disturbances bleed the country, what have our leaders done?

* * *

Email: [email protected]