War on hunger should be a war for a living wage �C group

MANILA -- The Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research,
Inc (EILER,Inc), a non-government development organization today said
that a genuine government effort to curb the high incidence of hunger
in the country should comprise of the reduction of the gap between the
family cost of living and minimum wages. This is in reponse to the
announcement by the Arroyo administration of the 1 billion pesos
"emergency hunger mitigation" fund.

"A war on hunger should be a war for a living wage," said EILER, Inc.
Executive Director Paul Quintos, "As long as the workers' wages are
pinned down and no significant wage increases such as the P125 wage
demand are legislated, then a war on hunger is nothing but lip
service."

A question of social justice

Quintos also said that the demand of Filipino workers for a living
wage is not only for immediate relief, which in itself is fair given
the working masses' dire situation but most of all a question of
social justice. The collective labor of the working people is
continuously increasing the country's social wealth as reflected by
the annual growth of the Gross Domestic Product or GDP.

The GDP grew by PhP542.433Billion or 12.57 percent in 2004; by
PhP560.004Billion or 11.53 percent in 2005; and by PhP581.411Billion
or 10.73 percent last year. However, only the local elite classes and
foreign businesses are enjoying it.

Foreign and local big businesses are taking pleasure in the
tremendous increase of their profits amidst the country's intensifying
economic crisis �C the government's financial bankruptcy, runaway
inflation, increasing poverty etc. Profits of the country's top 1000
corporations increased by

*PhP25.624Billion or 15 percent from 2003-2004; and

*PhP173.647Billion or 88.2 percent from 2004-2005;

Leading the biggest earners are the country's principal landlord and
bourgeois compradors like Henry Sy, Lucio Tan, Jaime Zobel, Danding
Cojuanco, and 36 others who belong to the world's super elite club of
billionaires and multimillionaires. Last year their combined personal
assets amounted to US$16Billion.

Based on the latest data from the National Statistics Office on
family income and expenditures, 10 percent of families in the country
(i.e. the landlords, bourgeois compradors, national bourgeoisie and
the upper crust of the petit bourgeoisie) corners 36.8 percent of the
aggregate family income, spends 31.9 percent of the aggregate
expenditures and pockets approximately 63 percent of the aggregate
family savings. On the other hand, 70 percent of families (or the
families of the direct economic producers �C the workers and peasants)
gets only 34.8 percent of the aggregate income, spends 39.4 percent
of the aggregate expenditures and corners 12 percent of the aggregate
savings. The poorest 30 percent have no savings at all and instead
incurred almost PhP6Billion in debts.

In the midst of widening gap between incomes and costs of living,
Quintos said ordinary Filipinos are also denied the most basic
services such as health, education and housing. He also expressed
apprehension that the 1 Billion hunger fund will just be another
pretext for more govenrment corruption.

The Ecumenical Institute for Labor Education and Research, Inc.
(EILER) is an independent non-governmental development organization
providing institutional support for labor research, education and
workers organizing nationwide.

Mr. Paul L. Quintos was a former research associate at the Philippine
Institute for Development Studies of the National Economic and
Development Authority (NEDA-PIDS) and a lecturer at the University of
the Philippines. He obtained his Masters degree (MSc.) in
Development Studies from the London School of Economics (LSE) and his
Bachelors degree (BS.) in Statistics from the University of the
Philippines.