INVEST $1B TO 7.9 M HUNGRY FILIPINOS INSTEAD OF IMF, JV URGES

“Instead of treating the $1 Billion dollar savings as capital to earn via foreign loans, why not invest it to public  education, livelihood program, and job generation to ease the burden of 7.9 Million Filipinos experiencing  poverty?” San Juan City Representative JV Ejercito today urged, in response to Bangko Sentral’s plan to  lend $1 Billion of its savings to the International Monetary Fund. 

JV said, “While we see the government’s genuine effort to earn for our coffers, it is our hope that the Aquino administration would look on the pressing needs of Filipinos first, before committing to other nations saddled  with financial problems.” Citing also the recent findings of the SWS Hunger poll, lawmaker said the survey  itself reveals the government’s need to invest more on programs and better social services that would reduce the worsening poverty of many Filipinos.

“The recent SWS survey itself connects the irony of the government lending that humongous amount of  money, when the survey’s figures say much of the plight of 7.9 Millions experiencing involuntary hunger and  10.3 Filipino households living in poverty,” he furthered. In the end, JV urged the Aquino administration to  review its plan of lending its $1 Billion savings, and invest instead on more classrooms and schools to buffer  the problems of K-12, and to provide more job generation and livelihood trainings.