Seeing is Believing

Philippines hit for 'hiding' poor at prestige event


AFP News – Sat, May 5, 2012


Rights groups and unions slammed the Philippines Friday after it erected advertising hoardings that hid slum housing from delegates attending a conference on solving poverty in Asia.

The giant boards were put up beside a road taking 4,300 delegates from Manila airport to the Asian Development Bank meeting that began on Wednesday, blocking the view of an open sewer and shanties.

The boards advertised Philippine tourist attractions as well as the high-level meeting, which proclaimed as its theme "inclusive" growth for Asia, home to some 902 million of the world's poor according to the bank.

The government said it was merely trying to put its "best foot forward" but New York-based Human Rights Watch criticised the boards, saying it sent the message that dire poverty can just be ignored.

"Instead of trying to hide the poor, the Philippine government should be pressing the bank to tackle poverty head on," said Jessica Evans, the group's senior international financial institution advocate.

Union leader Josua Mata, of the Alliance of Progressive Labour-Centro, told AFP the attempt to wall off the poverty was "embarrassing" and the government should turn its focus to creating jobs and building resettlement sites.

President Benigno Aquino's office insisted the effort was not an attempt to hide poverty, which the government says affects a fourth of the population of 95 million.

"It's but natural to fix it (the city) up a bit and I don't think we're violating any human right by trying to put our best foot forward," presidential spokesman Ricky Carandang told reporters.

"We're not trying to whitewash poverty, it's very real," another spokesman, Abigail Valte, said.

Carandang said the government was spending 39 billion pesos ($907 million) this year in cash handouts to help three million poor families to escape poverty. The ADB lent the government $400 million in 2010 for the programme.

ADB external relations director Ann Quon defended the hosts.

"We do not think it is the host country's intention to paper over poverty in the Philippines," Quon said.
"In fact, the government has placed poverty reduction at the centre of its development agenda."

http://ph.news.yahoo.com/philippines-hit-hiding-poor-prestige-event-181238613.html




Some say that seeing is believing. Given this, could it be, perhaps, that the Philippine government has effectively rid the country of poverty by walling off all sight of it? Well, no.

It is quite curious and ironic that such a thing to be done, even if the government officials say that they are not violating human rights.

Taking into account the agenda of the conference that took place - growth of the Asia - it seems highly inappropriate to close off the sight of poverty, especially when it is something that is being targeted to be addressed by such a large gathering of leaders.

The government says that they are extending efforts to help improve the quality of life for Filipinos, but what can be said about hiding them from the rest of the world?

I for one believe that trying to hide them from the public eye is counter-productive to their goal of trying to improve the situation with poverty in the country. To fix a problem, one must face it, evaluate it and come up with a plausible solution. To hide them is like trying to deny that there is a problem in the first place. Besides, why hide such situations from the delegates of the conference? If the delegates saw the actual situation, then it would have given them a clearer idea of the true nature of the situation in the country, and would allow them to make more appropriate plans and decisions in determining the fate of poverty in the country. Hiding it would instead lead people to believe that the situation is not as urgent or as grave, and that may lead to less effort or less time given to the problem since it appears to be of less magnitude.

The bottom line is, these people deserve honesty. Those living in the state of poverty will benefit from the appropriate people seeing the true nature of their situation. Presenting it as a euphemism makes them seem better off than they actually are, and if there's anything that should be made known about these people living in such situations, it should be how exactly their living conditions are so that appropriate solutions could be doled out for their betterment.

Poverty is such a huge issue in this country that it seems impossible to turn a blind eye to it. So huge that even putting up walls to conceal the situation cannot contain it. And this is in fact the first step to making things better; to acknowledge the problem, not ignore it.