'Soaring number of Black Nazarene devotees, a sign of worsening poverty'--Kadamay

PRESS RELEASE l 10 JANUARY 2012

MANILA, Philippines--This is the statement of a militant urban poor group after the Black Nazarene procession has recorded a record number of participants this year despite threats of terror.

"This dramatic increase only signifies of the increasing number of poor Filipinos who wish for relief in one way or another from their daily suffering," said Gloria Arellano, Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) national secretary-general.

"Unlike surveys, the participation in the Feast of the Black Nazarene is a more concrete gauge of the poverty and hardship that befell many poor Filipinos, as well as of the needs of the people," Arellano added.

"The remarkable increase in this year's participants only shows that Aquino has done nothing to uplift the life of the poor, in its one year in his more than a year in office," Arellano said.

Palliative poverty-alleviation program
"Undoubtedly, DSWD's Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) and DOLE's reported one million new jobs last year have no effect at all," Arellano said.

Each year, the number of indigents who look up to the Black Nazarene for medical to financial wishes is bound to increase, according to Kadamay.

"This incidence will be more remarkable as the Aquino administration continues to cut the budget for basic social services, while it allots more fund for military spending, debt-servicing and its defective dole-out program," Arellano said.

Hindrance to Poverty-Alleviation
According to Arellano, the Aquino administration stands as a big hindrance to the implementation of the vitals programs including the genuine agrarian reform and national industrialization.

"Only through an equal distribution of land to our farmers, and the creation of jobs though a national industrialization program free from the control of the imperialists, can the millions of Filipinos break free from the bond of poverty," she added.

Concrete hope
"In the midst of a highly entrenched and worsening poverty, only from an aspiration for a socialist society can the millions of Black Nazarene devotees and poor Filipinos get concrete hope and relief, eventually, from the cavalry that challenges them every day," she ended. ###

Reference: Gloria Arellano l National secretary-general (09213927457)