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Migrants
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Written by JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
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Saturday, 03 July 2010 00:00 |
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MANILA – President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III promised, during his campaign, he would make sure that overseas Filipino workers (OFWs)would no longer need to work abroad by generating enough local jobs. In the meantime, Aquino said during his inaugural address, “inaatasan ko ang mga kawani ng DFA, POEA, OWWA at iba pang mga kinauukulang ahensiya na mas lalo pang paigtingin ang pagtugon sa mga hinaing at pangangailangan ng ating mga overseas Filipino workers.” (I am ordering the officials of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and other pertinent agencies to intensify its response to the needs of our overseas Filipino workers.)
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Migrants
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Written by JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
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Saturday, 17 July 2010 00:00 |
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MANILA — The Khandera Bridge in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has provided shelter to many stranded overseas Filipino workers. But since Saudi police barricaded it from migrant workers, OFWs have found a new home in the Philippine Consulate General in Saudi Arabia — but only outside its building.
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Homefront
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Written by Dr. Romulo A. Virola, Philippine Daily Inquirer
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Sunday, 11 July 2010 15:54 |
MANILA, Philippines—Who are the rich? Are they the ones who go to Belo for specialized services? Driving a Lexus, BMW and the like? How rich is rich? Do they also eat galunggong (round scad) and NFA rice like most of us? And do they pay taxes? How much?
In 2010, to be counted in the high-income class, a family should earn at least P 2,393,126 a year or P199,927 a month compared to P2,000,073 a year or P166,673 a month in 2006! (See Table 1.)
Dwindling
In 2006, the rich numbered 19,738 families or 0.1 percent of the estimated 17,403,483 families in the country. Just like the middle-income class, the rich in our society have been dwindling, from 0.3 percent in 2000 (51,160 families) and 0.2 percent in 2003 (25,849 families). Kawawa naman sila! (See Table 2.)
It would have not been so bad if the decrease in the share of the high-income class families actually translated to an expansion of the middle-income class. However, as pointed out in the past, only the share of the low-income class families, consistently expanded between 2000 and 2006! (See Table 2.) Bakit ganon?
In current prices, the average monthly income of high-income class families was P194,965 in 2006 up by seven percent from P181,504 in 2003 but still lower by eight percent than the level of P211,579 in 2000.
President won’t qualify
Assuming the income of the rich grows at the same rate as the CPI inflation, their average monthly income in 2010 would amount to about P235,155. Based on salary alone, even the President of the Philippines would not qualify!
On the other hand, the average monthly expenditures of the rich consistently increased from P78,475 in 2000 to P96,807 in 2003 and P114,035 in 2006. In fact, from 2000 to 2006 the average monthly spending of all families, regardless of income class, increased faster than their average income.
It may be noticed, however, that the increase in spending of the rich decelerated from 23 percent during the period 2000 to 2003 to 18 percent between 2003 and 2006, while that of the middle-income and the low-income classes accelerated. So after their income went down between 2000 and 2003, natuto ring magtipid pati mga mayayaman!
Income gap narrowing
The income difference between the high-income class and the rest of society has been narrowing! In 2006, the average income of the rich was about 6.4 times that of the middle-income class and about 26.0 times that of the low-income class, down from 9.4 times and 36.7 times, respectively, in 2000 and 7.2 times and 28.6 times, respectively, in 2003!
It may be noted that this is in consonance with the findings of my earlier article that growth had been propoor between 2000 and 2003!
In terms of difference in expenditure, the situation has not changed much, and as may be expected, is lower than in the case for income. In 2006, the rich spent about 4.6 times and 16.5 times the amount spent by the middle-income class and the low-income class, respectively.
Are the rich getting richer?
The savings ratio of the high-income families decreased from 50 percent in 2003 to 47 percent in 2006. For the middle-income class, the savings ratio remained at 20 percent from 2003 to 2006 while for the low-income class families, it went down from 4 percent to 2 percent.
We do not know how it feels to save close to 50 percent of our income, but let us try to look more closely on how rich families spend. Saan ba napupunta ang limpak limpak na salapi ng mga rich?
From 2000 to 2006, the high-income families spent about 75 percent of their total expenditures on basic needs compared to about 85 percent among the middle-income class and 90 percent among the low-income class.
And how do the rich spend on “basic” expenditures?
It may be expected that the biggest share of expenditures would go to food. Indeed this was so in 2006 when the high-income families spent close to 30 percent on food while the middle-income spent at least 40 percent and the low-income close to 60 percent.
Rental
In 2000 and 2003, while the middle-income class and the low-income class also spent the most on food, the high-income families spent relatively more for rental (imputed value when owned) of their occupied dwelling units.
Could this be because in the earlier years, the rental cost of living in mansions and first-class condominiums was higher compared to 2006 after real estate had boomed with double-digit growth in gross value added resulting in the decline of rental values?
Across all income groups, the Top 4 basic expenditure items in 2006 were food, rent/rental value of occupied dwelling units, transportation and communication, and fuel, light and water.
For all families combined, education ranked sixth, but for the low-income class, education only ranked seventh. Indeed, if we are to inject new vigor to our human capital, subsidy for the education of our poor is a must!
B-day, wedding, baptism
For the nonbasic expenditures, high on the list across all families in 2006 were expenditures on special family occasions like birthday, wedding and baptismal parties, other expenditures, which include life insurance and retirement premiums as well as interest payments on loans and durable furnishings.
But of course! Studies by the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) have shown that the most important source of happiness for many Pinoys is the family!
Rounding up the Top 4 among the high-income and middle-income classes were taxes (isn’t that nice to know?) while for the low-income class, unfortunately, it was tobacco!
In terms of levels of expenditures by expenditure item:
In 2006, the average monthly food expenditure of a high-income class family was P21,184; this was 2.4 and 5.7 times the amount spent by middle-income (P 8,702) and low-income class families (P3,687), respectively! Ano kayang kakaiba sa mga kinakain ng mga high-income families?
For transportation and communication, high-income class families were spending, on the average, P12,694 per month while middle-and low-income families spent P2,212 and P305, respectively, in 2006! Malaki siguro ang matitipid nila kung matututo silang mag MRT o pedicab!
For fuel, light and water, high-income families were spending P6,175 monthly, which is 3.3 times and 12.7 times more than what were spent by middle-income (P1,865) and low-income families (P485), respectively, in 2006!
And do the rich engage in conspicuous consumption of non-basic commodities? Do they pay taxes? The Family Income and Expenditures Survey (FIES) data available to the public may not be able to provide all the answers but here are some.
In 2006, the high-income families spent, on the average, P9,583 monthly on durable furnishing, which is 9.6 and 33.8 times what the middle-income (P1,000) and low-income (P283) families spent!
Low tax payments
But while the proportionate share of expenditures of the high-income class that goes to taxes is relatively high, the median amount of taxes paid by these families is low! The amount of monthly taxes paid by the rich amounted to only P1,803 in 2006, P6,269 in 2003 and P4,682 in 2000.
On an annual basis the tax payments amounted to P21,634 in 2006, P75,226 in 2003 and P56,182 in 2000. This low median amount of taxes paid indicates a low level of tax collection from the high-income class! Indeed, managing the budget deficit may be better addressed through more effective implementation of existing tax laws than by imposing new ones!
Gifts
However, it is also worth noting that in 2006, our high-income families spent P2,800 monthly on gifts and contributions, up from P767 in 2000 and more than double the P1,300 in 2003.
This includes gifts and assistance to private individuals outside the family, contributions to church and religious institutions, and contributions and donations to other institutions.
The grouchy may consider this a pittance, but it must indicate the growing conscientization of the rich! Don’t you agree Doña Buding? Kc, d lhat ng myaman ay k2lad ni Wuwa!
Talking about conscientization, if the rich families sampled in the FIES would tithe their savings toward poverty reduction, the family with median savings among the rich would be able to deliver five families from poverty.
As mentioned earlier, not only will we look at the income and expenditure of high-income class families, we shall also try to describe their socioeconomic characteristics.
Predictors of income
Three predictors of income were found to be consistently significant for the high-income class for 2000, 2003 and 2006:
o Household head working as corporate executives, managers, managing proprietors, supervisors, officials of government and special interest organizations;
o Owns at least three air conditioning units; and
o Owns at least three cars/vehicles.
Sa mga naghahangad na maging “June bride” or “June bridegroom” with a “good catch,” dapat alam nyo na kung sino ang hahanapin!
Six other variables had positive effect on income in some but not for all three years:
Household head is a college graduate;
Household head has a postgraduate degree;
Number of employed household members is greater than three;
Ownership of a house;
Household head is an employer in his own family-operated farm or business; and
Household living in an urban area.
We are almost sure that aside from the NSCB, many are now waiting for the results of the 2009 FIES not only so that the NSCB can release updated statistics on the country’s low-, middle- and high-income families, but also for us to know what happened to the poverty situation in 2009—after the global financial crisis!
Meantime, we are currently undertaking a study to improve the methodology on the identification of the low-, middle- and high-income class families which will be presented in the 11th National Convention on Statistics on Oct. 4 and 5.
Hopefully, our efforts will be useful in designing programs that will better target the marginalized ... and narrow the gap between the poor and the rich! (07/03/2010)
(Dr. Romulo A. Virola is the secretary general of the National Statistical Coordination Board [NSCB]. He holds a Ph.D. in Statistics from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, USA. This article, which appeared in Virola’s column “Statistically Speaking” on the NSCB website, was cowritten by Jessamyn O. Encarnacion and Mechelle Viernes, OIC-director and statistical coordination officer II of the NSCB, respectively.) |
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Migrants
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Written by Expatica.Com
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Thursday, 01 July 2010 17:21 |
The Dutch cabinet has widened the powers of the immigration police, allowing them to search homes for identity papers. In its weekly meeting on Friday the caretaker cabinet of Christian Democrats and Christian Union decided on a plan to improve police effectiveness.
Next to wider house search powers, the immigration police, officially known as Aliens Police, will also be allowed to read information from data carriers such as cell phones in order to establish the identity of people held in detention centres for aliens.
A spokesperson for the government said that it is becoming common knowledge among illegal aliens in the Netherlands that it is smarter for them "not to carry certain documents on their bodies". These documents would "make it easier for the authorities to quickly identify and expel them".
The cabinet argued that stricter enforcement of immigration rules will help in the fight against people trafficking.
(Expatica.Com, June 25, 2010) |
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Statements
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Written by CENPEG
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Thursday, 01 July 2010 17:16 |
CENPEG ISSUE ANALYSIS No. 06
Series of 2010
It would be interesting to see how Aquino III will be able to transcend his class background and political orientation. In Philippine politics, promises are bound to be broken unless elected leaders begin to walk the talk.
By the Policy Study, Publication, and Advocacy
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
July 1, 2010
Something new happened in the Philippines’ election system last May and this was the use of automation for the first time to generate quick election results. Despite the new technology, however, the elections hardly changed the country’s political configuration. Political dynasties remain in power and not a few people’s hopes of promoting reform politics were dashed with the defeat of reform-minded officials particularly in Pampanga and Isabela.
The staying power of the old, feudal politics as symbolized by political clans will make basic reforms in the country’s social and economic conditions such as endemic poverty, wide income gaps, and weak governance highly remote. Token “reforms” may be expected from the new administration corresponding to its campaign pledges. But the large majority will be left to fend for themselves – as it has been for countless decades in a class society where a few families rule exclusively, politically, and financially.
In the elections marred by vote buying and fraud, partial results show some 270 political families dominating the May 10 automated elections each with two or more multiple positions gained. In the country’s 80 provinces, at least 53 governors and 26 vice governors come from these political families. (Philippine Collegian, June 9, 2010) The same partial results also showed the Ilocos and ARMM having the highest number of families winning with 22 families in each region gaining at least two seats in all the municipalities.
Political clans kept their dominance in the House of Representatives with at least 130 seats or 60 percent of the regular membership. Traditional opposition and pro-Arroyo politicians also used the Party-list system, which is constitutionally reserved for the marginalized sectors, to gain additional seats in the lower House.
Senate
Meanwhile, the new Senate will have 16 (67 percent) of its 24 members coming from political clans. The last elections saw seven winners having family members and relatives also taking seats in the House as well as provincial posts.
The latest configuration of national positions underscores how deep the entrenchment of political dynasties is. The new president, Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, comes from the powerful clans of the Aquinos and Cojuangcos, whose roots date back to the 19th century. His mother, Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, ascended to the presidency as a result of the People Power I uprising of February 1986 that saw the fall of the Marcos dynasty. His father, Benigno Aquino, Jr., who was assassinated in 1983 is from the Aquino clan of Tarlac.
Even with the ouster of Ferdinand Marcos in 1986, the Marcoses were never out of power with their political, military, and business cronies rehabilitated under Corazon Aquino’s administration and themselves eventually taking elective positions. The Marcoses are now back in full force: Ferdinand, Jr. is a new senator, mother Imelda, now 80, is also back in Congress, and daughter Imee is the new Ilocos Norte governor.
In southern Philippines, the Ampatuan clan of Maguindanao rose to power during the Marcos dictatorship and one of their members was appointed acting municipal mayor by President Aquino. It was during the Macapagal-Arroyo presidency (2001-June 2010) when the Ampatuans’ political clout grew giving them control in many of the province’s municipalities with a well-armed private army of more than 1,000 men to boot. The Ampatuans delivered crucial votes to Macapagal-Arroyo in the rigged 2004 presidential elections and to her senatorial slate in the 2007 polls. They backed the administration’s counter-insurgency campaigns in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM). In the tradition of patronage politics, Macapagal-Arroyo extended political and military support to the Ampatuans.
With the Ampatuans now facing criminal and rebellion charges for the November 2009 mass murder, their power has been cut by the rival tribal clan of Mangundadatus with Esmael “Toto” grabbing the governorship of Maguindanao. Still, the Ampatuans cannot yet be counted out with at least 10 clan members getting elected despite being implicated in the massacre.
Macapagal-Arroyo
The outgoing president, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, will remain in government this time as a congresswoman from her native province of Pampanga. Son Datu Arroyo has been reelected as a Camarines Sur representative while another, Mikey, is trying to claim back his congressional seat through the partylist Ang Galing Pinoy (AGP). Brother-in-law Igee Arroyo has also been reelected congressman from Negros Occidental. Mrs. Macapagal-Arroyo’s Lakas-Kampi-CMD coalition has won at least 120 seats in Congress and a big number of local government posts. Consistent with traditional politics, the coalition’s ranks are being dissipated with members jumping ship toward Aquino III’s Liberal Party, which garnered only 40 legislative seats in the May elections.
Nationwide, the major political clans maintain their hold of the presidency, Congress, and local governments. In addition, there are hundreds of smaller political families with local governments as their turfs. The government bureaucracy is filled by their kin and political supporters. Many of the clans are warlords protected by private armed groups as well as by police and military forces. In the provinces, most political clans are a power by themselves and are often untouched by the law.
Political dynasties are bound to the presidency by the system of patronage that the latter dispenses in terms of pork barrel distribution, appointments, preferential treatment in local government revenues and development projects, as well as other perks and privileges. They support the political party of the winning president either as new members or as coalition partners. Ideological considerations or public service – which are nil in most politicians - have nothing to do with this traditional partnership but merely politics of convenience. This quid pro quo politics makes the president strong and provides resiliency and recovery to political clans. Even as rivals, however, political dynasties maintain a history of reconciliation so long as these are for their own interests. For example, Eduardo Cojuangco, Jr., a business crony of Marcos who was implicated in the 1983 assassination of Benigno Aquino Jr., supported Aquino III in the last election. At some point as a member of Congress, Aquino III aligned himself with Macapagal-Arroyo on the Hacienda Luisita massacre issue and voted against the opening of the “Garci tapes” linking the incumbent president to electoral fraud.
The resiliency of political clans is exemplified not only by the Marcoses, Cojuangco-Aquinos, and Macapagal-Arroyos but also by the Singsons, whose dynasty dates back to the 1830s, Fuendebellas, Villafuertes, and others. They also trounced politicians touted to be reformist, with for instance Faustino Dy beating Governor Grace Padaca in Isabela and Lilia Pineda, an ally of Macapagal-Arroyo, winning over Governor Fr. Eddie Panlileo in Pampanga.
Economic base
Meantime, the material or economic base is important for the sustenance of political dynasties. In the past, land ownership, sugar plantations, mining and logging concessions bankrolled the grab of political power which in turn was used to amass more wealth. In recent decades, wealth provided by trade and commerce, banking, telecommunications and media, food and beverage chains, real estate, corporate law, and other new industries sent new politicians to government. The accumulation of material wealth has always been nuanced by a system of landgrabbing, exploitation and oppression, as well as the misuse of political authority and corruption thus making income inequalities more severe and economic crisis more pervasive. Aquino III is both a product and representative of the ruling class of political dynasties and is basically, therefore, aligned with his class interest. Aside from this, he is a product of an election system that still gives an edge to popularity and name recall rather than to ideological visions and catalysts of change.
In the recent elections, he was supported by influential dynasties and media owners as well as the corporate elite based in Makati. Some of his supporters belong to the 20 richest Filipinos whose net worth of PhP900 billion is equivalent to the combined income of the poorest 11 million families. He is the current “darling” of the U.S. and other powerful countries with strategic interests to protect in the Philippines, from investments to military intervention. (Didn’t they use to support Macapagal-Arroyo before?) The cabinet that he has formed recycles old faces – former Arroyo officials who will now occupy key positions – with new ones particularly in the justice post basically providing the embellishment of token reform. He can always claim he’s his own man but realpolitik dictates he not only needs the support of powerful endorsers but must dance through the music of traditional politics of trade offs and compromises if he aims to complete his six-year term.
The politics of political dynasties and oligarchic parties in the Philippines has always been against change, consistently beholden to elite interests as well as foreign powers. Because it is driven by narrow interests, it is consistently opposed to popular reforms espoused by the country’s poor and marginalized classes such as land reform, decent wages, basic social services as well as sovereignty issues and economic independence. It would be interesting to see how Aquino III will be able to transcend his class background and political orientation. In Philippine politics, promises are bound to be broken unless elected leaders begin to walk the talk by reforming the country’s governance system, initiating genuine land reform, and upholding human rights, among other basic reforms. These are the same reforms that Corazon Aquino pledged to address in 1986 only to disappoint - after six years in office - the millions of Filipinos who had marched on Edsa I.
Reference:
Bobby Tuazon
Director, Policy Study, Publication and Advocacy (PSPA)
Center for People Empowerment in Governance (CenPEG)
TelFax +63-2 9299526; mobile phone: 0929-8007965
E-mail:
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