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Advocacy Saturday: Stand Up and Take Action Against Poverty

The world has passed the halfway mark for meeting the Millennium Development Goals --- the 8 international development goals that 189 United Nations member states have agreed to achieve by the year 2015. The goals include halving extreme poverty and hunger, reducing maternal and child mortality rates, fighting diseases such as AIDS, sending all children to school and improving access to water and sanitation.

The Philippines is among those that are lagging behind its MDG targets. Rampant corruption in government, as well as lack of funds needed to meet the MDGs , pose a serious challenge for the country’s anti-poverty efforts. One thing you can do is to sign up and support the Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP)'s 50-50 Campaign just CLICK HERE.

Poverty and hunger have increased in the Philippines. The economic gains boasted by the government benefit only the richest families in the country, contributing further to worsening inequality.

The continued rise in the cost of living, especially in light of the food and energy crisis, has caused a considerable decline in real income and increase in the severity of poverty. These past three years, millions of households experienced hunger. Latest official statistics show the absolute number of poor families has increased from 4 million to 4.7 million. Official statistics also show that 80% of the country’s poor are from the rural areas.

One in every 6 school-age children do not go to school; 6 out of 10 mothers die due to complications arising from pregnancy.

It is time to ACT NOW.

On October 17, we will join millions of people all over the world who will STAND UP and commit to TAKE ACTION against poverty and inequality. We pledge to do our share in poverty eradication --- from waste segregation and energy conservation to writing letters to our local and national leaders and joining mass actions.

We want the government to make the same commitment. Listen to the people’s agenda: Ensure appropriate resource allocation for programs to eradicate poverty; observe transparency and public accountability in all trade negotiations; full implementation of the Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act; comprehensive debt audit,; repeal of automatic appropriation provision and non-payment of illegitimate debts; resume peace talks between GRP and MILF and immediate cessation of hostilities
A hunger-free Philippines is possible. And we need to ACT. NOW.

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