Latest news with #Gatchalian
GMA Network
3 days ago
- Business
- GMA Network
DA to supply P20/kilo of rice to DSWD-listed retailers — Sec. Gatchalian
The Department of Agriculture will supply P20 per kilo of rice to accredited retailers of the Department of Social Welfare and Development for their food program, DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said Tuesday. At a Palace press briefing, Gatchalian said those classified as ''food poor'' beneficiaries usually avail food commodities from DSWD-registered or accredited retailers. Amid the government's P20 per kilo of rice program, Gatchalian said the DA would provide rice to these listed retailers. ''Remember 'yung mga food poor natin, nag-a-avail sila sa mga accredited retailers, normally mga Kadiwa ng Pangulo, mga maliliit na agriculture coops, mga MSMEs... 'yan 'yung isa pong benepisyo ng programa na 'to eh, natutulungan 'yung local economy kasi doon rin bumibili 'yung mga food poor natin na benepisyaryo,'' Gatchalian said. (Remember for our food poor, they can avail from accredited retailers such as the Kadiwa ng Pangulo, small agriculture cooperatives and MSMES... that's one of the benefits of this program, they can also help the local economy because those food poor beneficiaries usually buy from them.) ''Ang hiningi sa amin ng Department of Agriculture 'yung listahan ng mga retailer para puwede nilang supplyan noong P20/kilo na bigas. Kasi kung tatandaan niyo 'yung food credit tatlong libo 'yun, so kung bumaba 'yung cost ng mga bilihin like 'yung rice, mas marami silang mabibili. Ngayon ginagamit na nila 'yung food credits na 'yun sa mga accredited retailers. Ang magiging bagong dimension nito, susupplyan ng Department of Agriculture 'yung mga retailers na 'yun noong murang bigas,'' he added. (The DA has asked a list of retailers from us so they can supply P20 per kilo of rice. If you remember, the food credit is worth P3,000 and if the cost of commodities would be lower, they can buy more food items. They use these food credits on accredited retailers. The new dimension is that the DA will supply cheaper rice to our accredited retailers.) The P20 per kilogram rice program is currently being rolled out to vulnerable sectors, and has been recently expanded to minimum wage earners. Households of qualified beneficiaries may purchase up to 30 kilograms of rice per month. The DSWD has since implemented the Walang Gutom Program, which is a partnership between the government and the private sector, with an aim to address involuntary hunger and to help minimize food wastage in the country. The program was in line with the country's commitment to realize the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal No. 2 to end hunger, achieve food security, improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture by 2030. Hunger incidence Meanwhile, hunger incidence has dropped among the beneficiaries of the DSWD's Walang Gutom Program. ''Ang unang 300,000 na miyembro nitong program na ito ay nakakakain na ng maayos at unti-unti nang bumababa ang incidence ng kagutuman among the food poor,'' Gatchalian reiterated in the briefing. (The first 300,000 members of this program can eat sufficiently and the hunger incidence has since dropped among food poor.) To recall, the DSWD partnered with telecommunications company Globe and poll firm Social Weather Stations to address food insecurity in the country. A two-wave study was carried out to alleviate hunger among Filipino families. The survey result showed that the share of households experiencing hunger dropped by 4.1 percentage points from 48.7% in October 2024 to 44.6% in December of that year. The field work was conducted from October 7 to 18, 2024 and from December 1 to 10, 2024. It covered a total of 3,991 respondents from 33 provinces across the Philippines. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News
Filipino Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Filipino Times
Woman from viral sewer video to get P80K sari-sari store aid from DSWD
A woman who went viral for emerging from a Makati sewer, identified only as 'Rose,' is now starting her own sari-sari store through government support. The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) confirmed that she will receive up to Php80,000 in livelihood aid, not all at once but in phases. DSWD Secretary Rex Gatchalian said that this support will follow the agency's standard procedures. Rose will first receive initial capital to buy items to sell, followed by regular monitoring before more funds are released. 'In all our case, it's a gradual monitoring system, hand-holding yan. Ang gagawin ng aming social worker, una bibigyan siya ng paunang tulong— katulad nga raw kagabi, nagsimula na sila bumili ng ibebenta sa tindahan. Then imomonitor natin sila uli. 'Pag nakita natin na maganda 'yung takbo, dadagdagan at dadagdagan natin hanggang sa mabuo natin 'yung 80,000 pesos,' Secretary Gatchalian explained. He said the DSWD's team of social workers will act as case managers to ensure that Rose can sustain the business and use the help wisely. 'Lagi naman importante 'yung case management kung tatawagin… ang mga social workers ang nagke-case manage on an individual basis [sa mga clients natin],' he added. Rose and her partner, a barker, used to live on the streets and relied on collecting recyclables for survival. Despite these hardships, they were able to rent a small bedspace and showed a willingness to manage their earnings responsibly. 'Nakita ng mga social workers natin na pwedeng maiahon nila yung sarili nila sa lansangan, ibig sabihin meron silang sariling displina kung pano pagkakasyahin 'yung kanilang kita,' Gatchalian said, adding that this was a major factor in granting her the livelihood aid. The support for Rose falls under the 'Pag-abot Program,' a 24/7 initiative of the DSWD aligned with President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's directive to help homeless individuals and provide long-term, appropriate assistance.
The Star
6 days ago
- General
- The Star
Woman who crawled out of drain in the Philippines found, as a nation grapples with homelessness
MANILA (The Straits Times/ANN): A woman who was seen eerily crawling out of a storm drain in the Philippines has been found and got help from the government – her sad plight setting off a conversation about urban homelessness in one of South-east Asia's top growth performers. Acting on instructions from Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, a team from the Social Welfare Ministry managed to track down 'Rose' at a slum district, and took her to a 'processing centre' to 'undergo a thorough assessment and appropriate intervention'. Photos of Rose crawling out of a narrow drain at a busy street corner late in the afternoon on May 26 in Makati city – her dress and denim shorts caked with grime, and her hair streaked with dirt and dried leaves – have gone viral. These images provoked both shock and amusement, with many drawing comparisons to a Japanese horror movie about a ghostly killer clawing her way out of a deep well. But they also triggered heated discussions about homeless people living in a subterranean world beneath gleaming financial districts like Makati, in a nation that has seen growth averaging at 5 per cent to 7 per cent annually. Philippine Social Welfare Minister Rex Gatchalian presented Rose to reporters on May 29, and said the ministry was giving her 80,000 pesos (S$1,850) so she can start a sundry neighbourhood store. The ministry will also help her partner, who has welding skills but is jobless and also a vagrant, find a job, said Mr Gatchalian. That gesture, however, has been met with scepticism. 'But it's a whole community! Why choose a band-aid solution,' publisher and editor Chi Balmaceda Gutierrez said in a Facebook post. Ms Rocky Galman, who lives in Brisbane, said in the same thread: 'It's good to help people in need but you need to teach them first, secure their home and food, then give them the ability to work or set up a business. If you give them money without proper education/training, it will just go to waste.' Others even mocked the effort. 'Maybe I'll just go home to the Philippines, look for a sewage canal so I can get 80k to start a business,' said Ms Charise Penafiel, who is working in Hong Kong. A street photographer took these photos of a woman crawling out of a storm drain in Manila's main financial district. -- PHOTOS: WILLIAM ROBERTS/INSTAGRAM 'Botanical Garden' When she was presented by Mr Gatchalian to the media, Rose said she was not living inside the drain. She said she crawled inside the hole because she dropped a 'cutter blade' into it. But Makati police spokeswoman Captain Jenibeth Artista told GMA News vagrants like Rose were using the drain as an entry and exit point into sewage lines that act as subterranean passageways. Makati police station chief Colonel Jean Dela Torre told reporters on May 28 that the police found several items in the storm drain where Rose emerged from, including pliers and shirts. Mr William Roberts, the amateur street photographer who first took Rose's photos, said in an Instagram post that he found one end of this tunnel system along a creek that its users have dubbed the 'Botanical Garden'. He said he talked to one man, Jerwin, whom he found emerging from a sewer pipe. He said Jerwin told him: 'We don't live in the canals. We hide in them from the sun, from the police, sometimes to stash what little we have, sometimes to keep each other safe.' Mr Roberts said the story of Rose and Jerwin 'is about the cracks we cover up with concrete, the faces we ignore when they crawl out of the canal'. There are more than three million homeless people across Metro Manila – a sprawling metropolis of 16 cities with a combined population of some 14 million. They live in shanties, makeshift pushcarts colloquially known as 'kariton', and wherever they can find shelter – by the side of the road, at cemeteries, and apparently in storm drains and sewage tunnels. The Borgen Project – a US-based non-profit – said extreme poverty, domestic violence, human trafficking and natural disasters are the usual push factors behind homelessness in the Philippines. - The Straits Times/ANN
GMA Network
19-05-2025
- Business
- GMA Network
Gatchalian to block bill lowering excise taxes on tobacco, vapor products
Senate ways and means committee chairperson Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday vowed to block a measure that will reduce excise tax on cigarettes, saying such cuts will not solve the country's cigarette smuggling problem. Gatchalian made the position during Monday's committee deliberations on House Bill 11360, which lowers the excise tax for cigarettes, tobacco, heated tobacco, and vapor (e-cigarette/vape). 'What we are after in the committee is to combat and eliminate illicit trade. Illicit trade creates a lot of problems in terms of revenue collection and health outcomes. Illicit trade is the devil. And in those last three hearings, we didn't see that lowering taxes [on cigarettes] can combat illicit trade effectively," Gatchalian said. 'Habang ako ang chairman ng ways and means committee, hindi ko papayagan na maipasok iyang cigarette component in the bicameral conference committee. With all due respect to my counterparts, and I am putting this on record for our House iyan ang i-iinsist nila, mag-usap na lang tayo 20th Congress because we will not allow that,' Gatchalian added. Under the bill, the current excise tax rate of P66.15 per pack of cigarettes will be increased by 2% every even-numbered year effective on January 1, 2026 and 4% every odd-numbered year, effective January 1, 2027 until December 31, 2035. These rates, however, are lower than those provided under the 2012 Sin Tax law, which imposed an excise tax rate of P60 per pack of cigarettes by 2023, an amount that increases by 5% every year starting January 1, 2024. Instead of slashing taxes on cigarettes, Gatchalian said there is a need to pour in resources to beef up anti-smuggling teams of various government agencies. 'That is why we are open to funding the DTI (Department of Trade and Industry), BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue), and the task force on illicit the BIR, it is a good suggestion that we fund it so that we will have a full-time composite team to combat illicit trade. That is our objective,' Gatchalian added. Gatchalian said he will be amenable to House Bill 11360 provided that the measure does not include provisions on lowered taxes for cigarettes. Under current laws, the excise tax imposed on vapor products only covers those with nicotine salt/salt nicotine and conventional 'freebase' or 'classic' nicotine, with differing rates. 'The difference [of excise tax rates] on freebase and [classic] nicotine vape products is creating problems and incentivizing technical smuggling in the country. And that is what we want to stop,' Gatchalian said. 'What we want now is a unitary system for vape products,' Gatchalian added. Senator Pia Cayetano agreed with Gatchalian's position. "We should not repeat the mistakes of the Vape Law, which stripped away critical regulatory protections established under the Sin Tax Reform Act. We must not allow history to repeat itself," Cayetano said. "Reducing taxes clearly does not address the health costs of these sin products, but even adds to them. It also undermines the government's ability to fund essential health services, including the Universal Health Care program, which heavily relies on sin tax revenues," Cayetano added.—LDF, GMA Integrated News
Filipino Times
01-05-2025
- General
- Filipino Times
Over 18M high school graduates in PH have poor comprehension, PSA finds
More than 18 million high school graduates in the Philippines are considered 'functional illiterate' or have poor comprehension and struggle to understand even simple information. This was revealed during a Senate basic education committee hearing on the 2024 Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS). According to a post by the Senate of the Philippines on Facebook, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian stressed the need for targeted programs to solve this problem. 'As long as there's somebody who cannot read, write, and compute, there will be poverty in our country. We need to break that cycle of poverty by injecting education,' Gatchalian said. PSA confirms alarming trend PSA Assistant National Statistician Adrian Cerezo agreed with Gatchalian's observation. 'Accurate, sir,' Cerezo replied. 'We note that there are actually a significant number who are passing or graduating but are not really functional literate.' Gatchalian also emphasized, 'That's quite concerning. That means one out of five of our graduates cannot comprehend and understand a simple story, and that's something that we need to address.' 'That's the problem of basic education because paano sila nag-graduate nang hindi sila functional literate? Iba 'yung hindi pumasok eh, iba rin yung pumasok ka but naka-graduate ka but you're not functional literate,' Gatchalian said. 'Should not happen. No one should graduate in our basic education system, no one will graduate in our basic education system that will not be functional literate… DepEd should already be proactive in making sure that no one will graduate not being functional literate,' he added. What changed in the literacy definition In 2019, those who graduated from junior high or high school were automatically counted as functionally literate. But the 2024 FLEMMS now defines functional literacy as the ability to read, write, compute, and comprehend. With this change, the number of functional literates dropped from 79 million in 2019 to 60 million in 2024, showing that many graduates still cannot understand basic texts. Top provinces with the most illiterate residents Tawi-Tawi topped the list with 67% of its population considered functionally illiterate. It was followed by Davao Occidental (53%), Zamboanga del Sur (49%), Northern Samar (48%), Basilan (48%), Sarangani (48%), Western Samar (46%), Agusan del Norte (44%), Sultan Kudarat (44%), and Lanao del Norte (44%). Officials hope this data from the PSA will guide local governments to create urgent programs that will improve reading and comprehension in schools.
