at least 4.5 M Filipinos not worried re Corona impeachment – GWP Rep. Emmi De Jesus

When asked about their reactions on the ongoing impeachment proceedings versus CJ Corona, many poor Filipinos reply "Nakakain ba yan?"

"I am reminded of a quote attributed to Albert Einstein -- An empty stomach is not a good political adviser. It is not enough that the Aquino administration has fed the Filipino public the ongoing Corona impeachment case. It has to create more jobs and rescind its anti-people economic policies so as to allow the increasing number of hungry Filipinos to feed themselves," said GWP Rep. Emmi De Jesus.

A recent SWS Survey revealed that in the last quarter of 2011, 22.5%, or an estimated 4.5 million families experience involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months.

"The security of women and her family from hunger is threatened by the worsening economic crisis. As the family's income further dwindles because of spiraling increases in the price of basic commodities, women's burden becomes heavier because they are customarily tasked to make ends meet,” added Rep. Emmi De Jesus.

"This condition of involuntary hunger is further aggravated by demolitions, forced evictions and relocation to far-flung areas where jobs are nil and basic social services are absent. The previous SWS survey may have revealed that poverty fell to 45 % from the 52 % in the 4th quarter of 2011, but this do not discount the fact that hunger and poverty are the results of government’s inability to respond to the real needs of the people and the glaring realities of social inequities," the Gabriela solon further added.

"Hunger will continue to be a problem so long as the Aquino administration refuses to be blinded to the fact that what our economy needs is a true, blue-blooded national industrialization program that builds Filipino-owned industries with continually rising local value-added over the long-term," ended Rep. Emmi De Jesus.