Recent hunger rate hike, a slap in WB Pres Zoellick's face, says urban poor group

RELEASE l 28 October 2011
Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap

Manila, Philippines – Two days after World Bank (WB) Group President Robert B. Zoellick arrived in the Philippines last Tuesday, SWS released a survey result showing that 21.5 percent or about 4.3 million families in the country experienced having nothing to eat in the last three months. This is 15.1 percent higher than the previous quarter.

"The higher hunger incidence must be a slap in WB President Robert Zoellick's face as he visits the country to check the anti-poverty program of the Aquino administration," said Gloria Arellano, national secretary-general of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap.

The Palace attributed the second quarter's drop on hunger incidence to its Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program, also known as the “Pantawid Pamilya” program that provides families with cash if they send their children to school and comply with health checks. Launched in 2008 with support from the WB, the program has benefited 2.2 million households that include six million children up through age 14

"Three years after its implementation, the recent hike in the hunger incidence only discredits CCT as a poverty alleviation program, but a dole-out program to pave the way for more borrowings from the World Bank," Arellano said.

Part of Zoellick's visit is a tour to an urban poor community to meet with people benefiting from the “Pantawid Pamilya” program. According to a recent government release, his "visit will definitely improve the partnership between the World Bank Group and the Philippines to ensure a more supportive relationship."

But according to Arellano, Zoellick's visit must be condemned by the wider number of Filipinos who go hungry each day because of WB's neoliberal policies that have dwarfed our economy. "The dole-out scheme and the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) projects of the Aquino administration that primarily victimize the poor are dictates of financial institutions like WB to make sure that imperialist greed is sugarcoated into humanitarian and pro-poor efforts," Arellano added.###