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Joel Saracho

The struggle against hunger and poverty is a struggle for basic human rights.

At the core of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is the respect for human dignity and protection of people’s basic right to live a more humane life: that no one will go hungry, that mothers and children have access to health care, that children be assured of education, that women are empowered and do not suffer discrimination.

Sadly, the Philippines not only lags behind, we are also much poorer than we were in 2001.

Facts from the Social Weather Stations (SWS) speak for themselves. In its September 18 to 21 survey, 53 percent of Filipino families rated themselves as poor.

Still, according to SWS, poor families have been lowering their living standards to make ends meet.

That more than half of the population is poor and has been experiencing involuntary hunger is a downright travesty on the basic human right to live with dignity, no thanks to a government whose idea of delivery of basic services never went beyond granting favors in exchange for political expediency.

A case in point is the glaring disparity between the powerful rich and the poor in Maguindanao. Powerful warlords rule Maguindanao, coddled by a corrupt government whence came questionable votes that continued Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s rule, robbing the people of their legitimate right to a leader of their choice.

The recent mass slaughter in Maguindanao that cost the lives of 57 people, half of them media practitioners, was committed by a political clan close to the President, using high-powered weapons supplied by the military. Now, pundits warn that the massacre and martial law in Maguindanao are a forewarning of worse things to come.

For central to Mrs. Arroyo’s rule is to keep herself in power. Recently, in spite of criticisms, she filed her certificate of candidacy for a seat in the House of Representatives, not because public service is in her DNA as she claims, but because she plans to push for Charter change that will pave the way to her becoming prime minister and, thus, enjoy political immunity.

Thus, on the occasion of the 61st anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights, the Global Call to Action Against Poverty links arms with the rest of the Filipino people clamoring for change in government, change in leadership, and change in the economic superstructures that have kept more than  half the Filipino population in poverty.

It is time to say we have had enough of political double talk, enough of the killings, enough of poverty and hunger!

It is time to stand up, speak out and take action to claim back our rights—the right to decent jobs, the right to food, the right to medical assistance and education, the right to choose a government that respects the basic rights of the people and one that will keep the poor’s plight on top of its agenda, and really do something to end hunger and poverty.

Defending our dignity is defending our very existence. Let us not fail.

Source: Business Mirror