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Interview: Philippine Gov't Steps up Fight Against Poverty
The Philippine government will step up its fight against poverty which is a major cause of the May 1 riot n Manila, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo said Tuesday.
The main economic problem now facing the Philippines is poverty, and it is so severe that "you can see what happened the other day," Arroyo told Manila-based Chinese correspondents in an interview at the Presidential Palace.
She was referring to the siege of the Presidential Palace by thousands of supporters of her jailed predecessor Joseph Estrada on May 1, her 100th day in office.
Arroyo declared a "state of rebellion" in Metro Manila, which she lifted at midnight of Sunday, after Estrada's supporters, mostly poor, marched on the palace and clashed with security forces, which left at least four people dead and over 100 others wounded.
"We need to reach out to the those people who march on the Presidential Palace last May 1, try to understand what made them march, attend to their needs, and show them that the government is for them," Arroyo said.
Their needs "are very, very simple, like school building, water systems," she added.
Official statistics show that about one third of the country's population of 76 million live in poverty, on mere one U.S. dollar a day.
Arroyo said the whole program of her government is related to poverty reduction, which comprises four parts.
The first component, she said, is how to maximize the benefits and potentials of the Philippines in the world of the new economy in the 21st century.
"You need transparency and a level playing field in a system of free enterprises, to make our investors competitive in the world of new economy," she said.
To take advantage of the country's potentials, the government wants to promote information and communication technology and other skill-intensive service industries, she said.
In order to fight poverty directly, she continued, sectoral and social diversity is needed in economic development plan for the urban poor, who marched on the Presidential Palace instead of the rural poor who comprise the largest disadvantaged group in the country.
"For the urban poor, we need to promote housing and security of tenure in the lands they occupy, things like that," she said.
To address poverty in the rural areas, "we have to have modernization of agriculture founded on social equity."
Asked about her feelings in her first 100 days in office, the president said the time is too short. "The only thing I can do in the 100 days is to set the direction. You cannot achieve results in 100 days," she said.
She admitted that the pressure of running the government has led her to lose some 20 pounds since she came to power on January 20 in a popular uprising that toppled corruption-tainted Estrada.
The disgraced former leader was jailed on April 25 for the charge of economic plunder, a non-bailable offense punishable by death. He is accused of illegally amassing 4.1 billion pesos (82 million dollars) during his 31 months in office.
Arroyo also said that because she is a woman, power grabbers thought "I'll be cowed, and surrender in collapse under the physical threat."
The government ordered the arrest of a dozen opposition leaders after the declaration of the "state of rebellion" in the capital area, accusing them of inciting the storm on the Presidential Palace and of plotting to seize power by killing the president.
Police are still hunting for several of them, including former police chief Panfilo Lacson and Senator Gregorio Honasan, a former military man who led some six failed coups in the 1980's.
One opposition leader, Senator Juan Ponce Enrile, was released on bail last Saturday after the Supreme Court granted his petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Former Ambassador to the United States Ernesto Maceda was released on bail earlier after the charge against him was downgraded from rebellion to conspiracy to commit rebellion.
Despite the pressure and the recent crisis, the president revealed that her movie watching schedule with her family has not been affected, saying she and her family are always together on Sundays.
"I want to be with my family on Sundays, watching movies with them," she said.
When asked about the last movie she watched with her husband and children, she replied, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
"Oh I love it, it's beautiful," the president said of the award-winning movie.
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