UK’s strange effort to fight poverty here
I was totally puzzled by the headline news of The FREEMAN last Saturday which read: “UK to grant Cebu P200M” purportedly to help alleviate poverty. There is no doubt that the United Kingdom wants to help 19 poorer nations combat the poverty. But surely the UK officials realize that the surest way to combat poverty is by investing in a country that means hiring people, giving them jobs that would eventually feed their respective families.
According to Cebu City administrator Paul Villarete, he plans to use this fund for soft purposes such as planning, policy formulation, and investment preparation for feasibility studies and design meant to address the problems of poverty in Cebu City. This grant is given to only two cities in the Philippines, one in Cebu, while the other is in New Clark City in Pampanga. This is given by the UK Prosperity Fund that was created in 2015 as part of the Global Future Cities Program that seeks to address the developmental studies of cities arising from increasing rapid urbanization, climate change and urban inequality.
Now, whether or not this plan by Villarete is attuned to what UK officials envision for the 19 cities that they are supporting, we would have to know what UK officials would do. But certainly, P200 million is not enough to help Cebu City solve the problems of poverty. But at least, it is a good start!
***
After a few dramatic declines in the past two surveys regarding the trust rating of President Rodrigo Road Duterte, he has rebounded by five points in the latest survey conducted by Social Weather Stations (SWS). A third quarter survey, conducted from September 15 to 23 with the results released recently, revealed that 74 percent of adult Filipinos have much trust in the president. That is quite a high trust rating if you compare it to the ratings of world leaders in other countries.
Twelve percent said they had little trust in Duterte, while the remaining 14 percent were undecided. This gave President Duterte a net trust rating of “very good” +62, five points higher than the “very good” +57 (70 percent much trust, 13 percent little trust) that he obtained in June. We also learned that this survey was also the first time that President Duterte’s trust rating improved this year, following a 10-point decline to “very good” +65 (76 percent much trust, 10 percent little trust, rounded off) in March and another eight-point drop to +57 in June. In the years of his presidency, SWS said President Duterte had an average net trust rating of +68 (78 percent much trust, 12 percent little trust).
The net trust rating is the rounded off difference between those who said they have much trust and have little trust with the president. We also learned that SWS classifies net trust ratings of at least +70 as “excellent”; +50 to +69 as “very “good”; +30 to +49 as “good”; +10 to +29 as “moderate”; +9 to -9 as “neutral”; -10 to -29 as “poor”; -30 to -49 as “bad”; -50 to -69 as “very bad”; and -70 and below as “execrable.” SWS also pointed out that the five-point increase in President Duterte’s overall net trust rating was due to increases in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon, combined with steady scores in the Visayas and Mindanao.
The SWS survey had 1,500 respondents and an error margin of +/- three percent for national percentages. Jesus Is Lord (JIL) church worldwide president-founder Eddie Villanueva urged the people to include Duterte in their prayers because his success as a leader would redound to the benefit of the Filipino people.
Villanueva said during the 40th anniversary of JIL held at the Quirino Grandstand in Manila: “Let us admit that he (Duterte) is doing something good and there are things that he is doing which are not pleasing, so definitely the Filipino people and history will judge him. We have to pray for him to succeed because his success will be the success of the Filipino people; his failure will be the failure of the Filipino people.” Like it or not, President Duterte’s popularity was never threatened!
***
For email responses to this article, write to [email protected]. His columns can be accessed through www.philstar.com.
- Latest
