This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 4, February 27-March 5, 2005
Davao’s Poor
and Homeless Reel from High Prices; Denounce VAT Hike They survive on rice
porridge and live in communities that the government has not cared to provide
even electricity and water. They used to be squatters, uprooted by the Davao
City government and transferred to faraway relocation sites, where life gets
worse by the day. BY AMABELLE PLAZA-LAMINERO DAVAO CITY – The House of representatives
may have excluded the pandesal (Filipinos’ popular breakfast bread) from
the value-added tax (VAT) but for many women and mothers in a relocation site
for squatters here, the proposed additional taxes are simply too much. Alicia Pacomio, 46, said she only cooks
twice a day to save fuel. In order to save, she no longer eats lunch, she said. “Pait kayo kung ipatuman pa ang bag-ong
buluhisan. (It would be even more difficult once the
new taxes are implemented),” said Pacomio, whose family is among the 202
households uprooted from their homes and relocated by the local government three
years ago. She said that, as it is, sardines and
noodles – two items that have become a common fare for poor Filipinos – are
expensive. “What more with the new taxes imposed on these basic food products?”
she asked. A can of sardines costs P12 and a pack of instant noodles costs P6.
The price of these goods is higher in Pacomio’s new home in Panacan, outside of
downtown Davao City. The plight of the Pacomios is just one of
the expected results of the proposal by the Arroyo administration to increase
the VAT on goods, from the present 10 percent to 12 percent. According to the
government, the increase will help plug the country’s budget deficit. Congress
is still deliberating on the new VAT legislation. Pacomio’s husband does odd jobs, often
earning less than a hundred pesos day. She earns money as an “usher,” or bet
taker, in their village for the illegal numbers game called Last Two. She gets,
at most, 15 percent from its gross, or a mere P45 a day. “I know it is illegal,
but we have no choice,” she told Bulatlat. If she wins in the Last Two, she could buy
10 kilos of rice. If not, she has to make do with the five kilos of rice that is
her family’s weekly budget. A hard life What makes life for Pacomio and the other
women belonging to the Panacan Relocation Women Organization (PRWO) harder was
that they had to contend with the high electric, water, and transportation
costs. Every day, they had to pay P7 per appliance
for the use of a generator set owned by one of the few better-off neighbors in
their village. Only television sets, karaoke and lamps are allowed, Pacomio
said. She has not used her refrigerators and other appliances for sometime now,
she added. They also pay P20 for a one-way ride on the
habal-habal (passenger motorcycle) from their far-flung village to the
highway. The families also buy their water by container, at P7 each. Many who
cannot afford the water make do with the water from a nearby stream. The city provided them 100-sq. m. lots,
payable within seven years. But City Hall has yet to provide electric and water
services in the village, which is located in a muddy clearing far away from the
bustling industrial belt of Panacan in this city. The local water and electric
utilities said they could not service the village because of the high cost of
installation as well as the land disputes in the area. Better off Evelyn Pinggoy, PRWO chair, said they were
better off when they were still living by the Panacan highway, where they could
easily vend food or find jobs in the plywood and food-processing companies, jobs
that do not require additional transportation costs. It was also easier for
Pinggoy’s work as the village nutritionist because the village hall where many
of the poor residents flock to seek medical attention was just nearby. She said the distance of the new village
deterred the villagers from getting better jobs and other sources of income.
Worse, Pinggoy’s husband suffered a stroke during the election campaign last
year when he worked as one of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s campaigners. “If only the government can provide steady
jobs for us, we can surmount whatever difficulties we have,” Pinggoy said. As
of July 2002, the National Statistics Office has pegged the city’s “visible
underemployment rate” at 6 percent and unemployment rate at 13.2 percent —the
highest rates in southern Mindanao. Compounding the villagers’ problem was the
closure of wood-processing companies in Panacan due to the government’s total
log ban after the flood disasters in Luzon, Pinggoy complained. She said she hasn’t paid her housing dues of
P251 per month in the past four months because of the hard times. She has to pay
an additional P25 per month as late-payment charge. Hard times Times are so hard for the women of Panacan
that Rubelyn Pistal, who is six months pregnant, had to feed her three-year-old
daughter rice porridge sweetened with a bit of brown sugar. In jest, they call
their usual viand “goodbye heads,” referring to the cheapest dried fish (P5 for
every two pieces) whose head breaks off when fried. Still, Pacomio and the other women are
better off compared to women like Teresita Watin, who lives not too far from
them. Watin is one of the 18 urban poor women under the Bongbong Relocation
Women Organization who were transferred by the government in 1999. There has not been much improvement in
Watin’s relocation area compared to six years ago, when this writer had the
chance to visit the area. Houses built on 60-sq. m. lots were in disarray, with
no lanes or alleys to separate them. It easily gets muddy and this has made
planting vegetables even more difficult. Watin said they had not paid the
housing dues because “the government has failed to provide the basic social
amenities that are due us.” Watin’s complaints are common among the
city’s urban poor. A series of protests and lobby work in the previous years
forced the local government to increase from P40 million to P100 million its
budget for the urban poor program to obtain lots for relocation sites and to
provide basic utilities. Critics, however, said that, in contrast,
the city’s “peace and order fund” amounts to P311 million, which is bigger than
the combined budget of the city’s services for health, social services,
agriculture, general administration and planning. The P311 million is on top of
the P80-million intelligence fund of the city. Mayor Rodrigo Duterte has promised that he
would prioritize the shelter needs of “qualified beneficiaries,” especially
those who cannot afford to buy their own homes. To many of this city’s poor
residents, that remains a promise. In the meantime, women like Pacomio and
Watin and their families suffer. But not in silence. Last week, they and several
other members of their organizations joined the nationwide rally against the
proposal to increase the value-added tax. Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
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