Labor group says fewer families got hungry due to proliferation of popular ‘pagpag’ food

By TUCP-Nagkaisa
May 12, 2015

QUEZON CITY – Fewer Filipino families experienced involuntary hunger in the last quarter, as shown by the latest Social Weather Station (SWS) survey, because ‘pagpag’ food is now readily and widely accessible to many Filipino poor especially in Metro Manila, said the labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines-Nagkaisa (TUCP-Nagkaisa).

“We would like to attribute this development to the proliferation of ‘pagpag’ food – very cheap, very delicious and easily accessible to the poor,” said TUCP-Nagkaisa spokesperson Alan Tanjusay.

However, the TUCP-Nagkaisa believes the Aquino administration failed to make quality living for the majority of Filipinos by not meeting three benchmarks:

1. Failure to bring up the income of the poor with 97% surviving on P162 a day subsistence wages and do not have the ability to pay for goods and services; Token wage increase and redefining the poverty to by changing the basket of goods that would warrant survival replacing chicken and meat with dried fish and vegetables is indecent;

2. Failing to make for power, water, telecom services affordable. Profits of the top 3% who are the owners of these sectors represent almost 80% of the national wealth. Meralco has gross earnings of P25 billion and net earnings of P18 billion. Little wonder that they can pay their top 8 officers additional bonuses ranging from P800,000 to P1 million.

3. Appropriate government expenditures with government savings are enormous. The fiscal savings for 2014 alone amounts to P300 billion. If used to put up infrastructure easily 20% to 30% would have been dedicated to new jobs. The new infrastructure as in power, ports likewise would have encouraged entry of more jobs.