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MANILA: Philippine President Gloria Arroyo will be delivering her eighth State of the Nation Address on Monday.
With inflation surging to 11.4 per cent – the highest in 14 years – vendor Eduardo Baring hopes the president will announce more measures to help poor Filipinos like him cope with soaring food prices.
"She should focus on how to help poor people like us. Times are really hard now, especially with the high prices of rice. Sometimes, we are only able to eat twice a day," he said.
Militant groups said it is not enough that the government provides subsidies for the poor. They want President Arroyo to look for sustainable solutions that will provide long-term security.
Representative Satur Ocampo, Bayan Muna, said: "We should study how we could solve the problem in the long term. Though we acknowledge that there's a global crisis in food and fuel, we should not just be contented on doing nothing to solve it. The government has a responsibility to find solutions to the crisis."
Businessmen also believe that subsidies will only benefit a few people. They hope the president will highlight programmes that will promote job creation and attract investments into the country.
Alberto Lim, executive director of the Makati Business Club, said: "We haven't seen a growth in private investments since 2003. Growth has really come from government spending, election spending, infrastructure and remittances.
"But that's not sustainable. You need investments in factories which would create jobs. That's the more sustainable type of growth and we are not going there."
The latest survey shows that the number of jobless Filipinos has increased to 2.9 million in the first quarter of this year, 200,000 more than in the same period last year.
More than just a litany of achievements and promises, the president will have to lay down specific and concrete solutions on how to alleviate the increasing pains of the needy on Monday.
- CNA/so
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