Gov’t anti-poverty program will be futile without economic relief - KMU

KMU scored the ongoing Anti-Poverty Summit and called Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo a first-class hypocrite with her double talk on improving the livelihood of Filipinos. “First of all, combating poverty needs embracing the interests of the poor people. Arroyo is not capable of doing this. Her loyalty is forever pledged to foreign powers, military and business sector, not to poor workers and peasants.”

“With the way the government handles important economic issues like rising inflation, cost of living and wage hike demands, only a small section from the business and ruling elite are making headway in this country. The majority of the population remains hungry and poor,” said KMU Executive Vice President Lito Ustarez.

“Real economic improvement for the people depends on tangible actions, not on empty babbles about progressing economic indicators and prospects. It’s worthless even to discuss poverty alleviation while refusing to grant economic relief through substantial wage hikes. More than 90% of the Filipino population will remain dirt-poor as long as government condone price hikes and maintain slave wages.”

The labor leader cited a study released by IBON Databank, indicating the Philippines as among the most dependent on foreign remittances from Overseas Filipino Workers. “Because of low wages, lack of jobs and source of income here, poor families rely on their OFW relatives. Almost every Filipino family has a member or relative working abroad. This situation clearly depicts the government’s failure in alleviating the plight of Filipinos.”