34,000 Manila families get welfare cards

THE Manila government yesterday distributed family access cards that will enable poor residents to buy government-subsidized rice and medicines from "Botika ng Bayan" outlets.

The green FACs with bar codes, totaling 34,000, were turned over by the Department of Social Welfare and Development to the city government. These were in turn distributed by the city government’s social welfare department to Manila residents at the Patricia Sports Complex in Gagalangin, Tondo, where most of the recipients reside.

The FACs were issued by the DSWD in partnership with the National Food Authority and the Philippine International Trading Corp. which runs the Botika ng Bayan.

Two NFA rolling trucks were on hand during the distribution.

Sen. Mar Roxas II said government should start drawing up long-term solutions to the food and energy crises as he said the doleouts and subsidies are "unsustainable."

Government has so far allocated P2 billion for the P500, one-time subsidy to "lifeline" consumers or those consuming a maximum of 100 kilowatts of electricity a month, and P1 billion each for student loans and the conversion of engines running on gasoline to LPG and compressed natural gas. It also recently provided for fertilizer subsidies in cooperation with local government units.

Roxas said the short-term response to high prices, widespread unemployment, and growing hunger could result in an even worse rice and food crisis by next year.

"Can the Department of Agriculture tell the people where the 2 million tons of rice needed next year will come from, when even our neighbors are experiencing a shortage? It is still not clear how much of the supply will come from Cagayan Valley, from Central Luzon, and so on," he said.

"There must be a parallel program and disbursement of money for priority areas, such as irrigation, farm-to-market roads, and subsidies or loans for fertilizer, so that farmers can go from two bags per hectare to the ideal six to eight bags per hectare," he added.

Roxas said the government’s policy to import rice and sell locally at subsidized rates comes with an opportunity cost: the billions spent could have been used to support local farmers attain optimal productivity.

"By selling subsidized rice, we are, in effect subsidizing the farmers of other countries. But when will we help our own farmers?" he said.

Roxas said the NFA sells at P18.50 per kilo is bought at $1,220 a ton, or P51 a kilo.

If government is set to import around 600,000 tons this year, the amount of subsidy would be roughly P20 billion, at P32.50 a kilo.

He said if the government gives out loans to farmers so that they would be able to buy additional three fertilizer bags needed to optimize their production, this would increase national productivity by 1.2 million per ton a year, based on a million hectares of irrigated land. The total cost of this would be roughly P5 billion, he said.

Militant groups staged a protest action outside the Land Bank of the Philippines office at the Quezon City Circle, demanding the scrapping of the 12 percent value added tax (VAT) on oil.

The group said the subsidies do not address the main problem of high cost of living, lack of livelihood and economic resources, among others.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan has launched the "Kontra-KulimVAT" campaign to press for the VAT removal which it said would also benefit millions who should also be considered poor or those who are becoming poor because of the price crisis."

Bayan and Anakpawis will hold a noise barrage protest in designated areas, including a Petron gasoline station, along E. Rodriguez avenue in Quezon City at 5 p.m. today. – Dennis Gadil and Randy Nobleza