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Philippine News Digest 21

Contents:
1. Mango fest in Zambales
2. 3.4 million families are poor
3. 12-year old boy flees from suspected sex mafia syndicate
4. Total failure for the poor and the environment

Mango fest in Zambales

Residents and tourists flocked to the Mango Festival held in Zambales province north of Manila March 22 to taste the Philippines’s famous carabao mango (Mangifera indica), which is regarded as “the sweetest fruit in the world” by the 1995 Guinness Book of World Records. The occasion was the Kinalabaw 2002, a five-day mango festival that recognizes the important contribution of carabao mango to the development of Zambales. The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Council (SMEDC) of the provincial government organized the event participated in by several non-governmental organizations including PREDA Foundation and its youth arm, the Zambales-Olongapo Youth Organization otherwise known as AKBAY (Aksyon ng Kabataan at mga Bata Para sa Bayan). Six theater groups from the different municipalities of the province staged their presentations mostly about environmental issues. PREDA Foundation is one of the biggest exporters of dried mangoes in the Philippines, breaking cartels and giving bigger profits to small farmers. Source: Cesar Villa, Philippine Daily Inquirer Central Luzon Bureau and Internet News Network, 1 April 2002.

3.4 million families are poor

Research Director Antonio Tujan of the Ibon Foundation, Inc. said nearly 88 percent of Filipino families live in poverty, dismissing the government’s poverty figure as overly understated. According to government data from the Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) conducted by the National Statistics Office, about 34.2 percent of Filipino families live below the poverty level, way behind Ibon’s figure. Tujan added that the government estimate was based on a “ridiculously” low annual per capita poverty threshold of P13, 916, which means a Filipino only needs P38.13 a day to meet all his basic needs. He questioned the Arroyo administration’s sincerity in winning the fight against poverty within the decade through its Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) 2001-2004. He pointed out Arroyo’s refusal to grant the P3, 000 across-the-board wage increase and her over-bloating of the military and defense budget. Source: Romer Sarmiento, Today, 1 April 2002.

12-year old boy flees from suspected sex mafia syndicate

Benedict Bahilidad, a 12-year old high school student in Cotabato City north of Manila, escaped from suspected members of a sex mafia syndicate March 29 after he pretended to be asleep. He was abducted earlier that day by three suspects, one of whom was armed with a kitchen knife and the other was holding a handkerchief soaked in a chemical that induces sleep. Balahidad said he heard his captors talking about selling him to someone else. Meanwhile, concerned sectors had asked the government to put a stop to kidnappings and other forms of criminality in the city following a spate of kidnappings of businessmen and doctors. Hundreds of children are kidnapped by the sex mafia every year and sold to brothels and sex dens. Some are even trafficked to foreign countries, according to the UNICEF. Source: Edwin O. Fernandez, Philippine Daily Inquirer Mindanao Bureau and correspondent report, 1 April 2002.

Total failure for the poor and environment

Non-governmental organizations led by Greenpeace indicted world leaders gathered for the UN International Conference on Financing for Development in Monterrey, Mexico as it comes to close on March 24. Paul Horsman, a campaigner for Greenpeace, warned that unless substantial changes are made specifically in the thinking of Northern governments, the outcome of the forthcoming Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development would be bleak. He also said the Monterrey Consensus is simply an agreement between industry and governments, adding that it will not address the widening gap between rich and poor, nor the increasing degradation of the world environment. Canadian human rights and anti-poverty groups are planning an alternative People’s Summit in Calgary this June 2002 to counter the G-8 meeting that would be hosted by Canada at that time. PREDA Foundation has been invited to send its famous educational theater group that has successfully toured Germany and Austria twice in recent years. Source: Today and correspondent report , 25 March 2002.

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Written by Philipppines
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Preda Foundation Inc.

The work of Preda Foundation is focused on alleviating the physical, emotional, psychological and sexual abuse and suffering of children and preventing abuse through community education and social media.

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