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FOOD AND MONEY CRISIS IN THE PHILIPPINES
Eric V. Encina
Food/Rice crisis continues to ensue in the Philippines and reportedly would take to be resolved for 2 years time unless there would be some imported food aid or there would be a prioritized national agricultural development efforts.
But the central problem is: THE GOVERNMENT NEEDS or is being pressed TO BORROW MONEY AT INTEREST TO FOREIGN US BANKS and financiers or lenders to buy imports or buy rice from USA and from other countries. Further borrowings overseas cannot solve the problems of food and money crisis in the Philippines.
FOOD CRISIS AND MONEY CRISIS - are the two most fearful things of all. If ever there are available foods in the Philippines for sale locally produced in the national level or from imports, majority of Filipinos can hardly afford due to increasing prices and the losing value of Philippine peso money plus the problem of unemployment. THERE ARE ALREADY 10 MILLION FILLIPINOS SCATTERED IN 200 COUNTRIES ACROSS THE GLOBE FINDING FOR SURVIVAL AND working for a living and sending aid or money back to the Philippines for the survival of their poor relatives and families. Brain drain continues and 5,000 to 10,000 Filipinos alone appying for overseas daily for migration or immigration or employment purposes.
The typical or most employed Filipinos in the Philipine Government here complain bitterly working 8 hours a day at P250 to P300 daily or $5 to $6 daily but they have to pay 10 % WITHOLDING TAX, then when they buy groceries in increasing prices, the GOVERNMENT TAKES another 10% to 12% of Expanded Value Added Tax or E-VAT away plus 12% E-VAT to other basic needs like medicines and services like hospitalizations, electric/light/water and to some telephone bills.
When they pay their income taxes, there is still more cash out because the Philipine government takes at least 1/3 of an employees yearly salary. UNDER THE PRESENT SYSTEM, IT IS VERY CLEAR, IT'S LEGALISED HIGHWAY ROBBERY! Taxation is a legalised robbery, and is the bitter fruit of the present outmoded financial-economica system based on debt.
There is a never-ending rat-race between earning and spending because of the unfair system of finance. It is a race that we seem we can't win. We are in the race trap, in poverty trap and in debt trap, beggary trap under the system. Hunger, and starvation of poor families too rampant in the villages, in the provinces and in the countryside.
This is the crazy system of debt finance. We are being killed slowly.
It is my proposal that debts be totally cancelled and interest payments scrapped or stopped. Most debts are odious and the country paid more than too much at the cost of human life. We are starving our children because of the dictatorial demands of the IMF and WB.
Philippine Government must create debt free money in Philippine Peso and provide security to every one in the form of extra basic income or dividend or supplementary basic income for survival of the inhabitants, to emancipate and prevent poverty traps, money needed for the improvement and development of the Philippine villages to sustainability, for the alternative education, and even for the consideration of the payment of legitimate debts overseas by converting debt-free Philippine money peso created into US$ value than borrowing further expensive USdollars to pay for US$ debts.
THE PROGRAMME THAT PHILIPPINES CAN ONLY BUY RICE FROM USA by borrowing money at interest to US financiers is another trap.
That programme cannot solve the problem but can potentially aggravate further. This is a kind of manipulation and intimidation. In other words, Philippines can only be qualified to a programme if it would borrow money from the US lenders.
I welcome comments.
Thank you.
Eric V. Encina