Thursday, November 3, 2011
THE Social Welfare and Development department should urge more beneficiaries of its Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) program to plant backyard gardens to fight off hunger as food prices go up, Senator Francis Pangilinan said Thursday.
Pangilinan, chairman of the Senate committee on agriculture and food, made this call after a recent Social Weather Stations survey found 4.3 million families have gone hungry in the past quarter. The SWS survey also reported a rise in “overall hunger” in Metro Manila and the rest of Luzon.
Iwan Azis of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Office of Regional Economic Integration, meanwhile, has warned that rising food prices may be “the new normal.”
In an article on the Vietnamese News Agency’s Vietnam Plus website, Azis said “there are worrying signs that food price fluctuations are now taking place within a much higher bandwidth than ever before.”
The ADB sees a 10-percent rise in food prices that will mean 64 million more people living in poverty. The rise in food prices has been attributed to production shortfalls from floods and droughts.
Rising demand in China and India for grain, oil, seeds, sugar, and livestock have also driven prices up, Vietnam Plus reported.
“If rising prices are the ‘new normal,’ then we cannot let rising hunger be part of this ‘new normal.’ It is unacceptable that people go on the entire day without any food to eat. We need to exhaust all means to find a creative solution,” Pangilinan said, adding part of the solution can be found in “our own backyards.”
“What we will need, especially for the short-term, is to increase coverage of the backyard gardening program under the government’s ‘Pantawid Pamilya’ program (Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, or the CCT), to give more poor and hungry families the chance to grow their own food and nourish themselves and their children. That’s the first step to getting people out of hunger,” he added.
The CCT program offers beneficiaries money for meeting requirements like keeping their children healthy and in school.
The Social Welfare department has been promoting backyard gardening to help poor families make sure their children are well-nourished.
“Self-sufficiency as a nation starts with self-sufficiency as a family, and it could very well start in our own backyards,” Pangilinan said.
Communities of CCT beneficiaries in Cagayan, Isabela, and Bohol have already put up backyard and communal gardens.
In Kalinga, the CCT program requires beneficiaries to maintain backyard gardens and latrines.
Gardening is also included in P28.96-million cash-for-work program that the Department of Social Welfare and Development launched in July for victims of calamities in Luzon.
Pangilinan said there is also a need for a long-term solution to hunger.
“We need more people, especially the younger generation, to go back to farming in order to meet our food security goals. And government needs to pump in a lot of support for this sector in order for us to turn the tide around and be self-sufficient instead of relying on food imports. It’s the only way for an agricultural country like ours,” he said.
He said modernization, manufacturing, and new technology will mean little until the Philippines learns to feed itself.
“All our neighbors will be zooming past us, exporting their own agricultural products to the rest of the world, while we will be the Crippled Man of Asia, hands outstretched and always dependent on others,” the senator warned.(Jonathan de Santos/Sunnex)
Published in the Sun.Star Pampanga newspaper on November 04, 2011.

The resorts and hotels in Clark Philippines are, to many, a fine example to leisure lifestyle of suburban city in America. In the top resorts of Clark Pampanga, lake, beach, 13 hectares of picnic grounds covered with trees and green all put together to deliver a memorable getaway experience for foreign tourists visiting Angeles City Clark Philippines and residents of Manila driving up to Clark for a day trip or a weekend family outing. The beach resorts, leisure parks and vacation hotels in Clark Pampanga offer a unique ambience that supports a laidback relaxing lifestyle. Many visitors travel north to Clark Pampanga from Manila to unwind and relax in these resorts.

Family with children can enjoy the picnic grounds and several large and small spots for swimming and water sports inside this resort in Pampanga. Parents can enjoy a day in leisure and relaxation in the shade provided by large Acacia trees throughout this resort. The ambience and beautiful view of the outdoor facilities of this beach resort in Clark Pampanga attracts visitors to go out of town from Manila for a getaway in the north.

Where to go in Clark? Hotel Clark Philippines is a De Luxe Hotel in Clark and Subic, a risk free place to stay, cozy and nice ambience, a nice function place for special occasion. It is one of North Luzon Philippines’ top hotels that is trouble free, risk free, and a nice place to have rest in Subic. A well-recognized and interesting hotel.

You might want to check also the Yats Restaurant is the best restaurant for special dinner, best restaurant for dinner with friends near Manila, also the best place to celebrate special events.

Are you looking for an attractive restaurant or a nice place to eat with friends in Clark, Angeles City Pampanga? Yats Restaurant and Wine Bar is a restaurant with good food and good wines for dinner located at Clark Angeles City Pampanga. Perfect for exclusive dinner venues for groups, recommended for private dinner in Philippines. A Restaurant in Clark for business dinner meeting. Private dinner place or dinner restaurant in Clark Subic Near Manila Angeles City Pampanga. Yats Restaurant is one of the Good Restaurant in Pampanga Angeles City Clark near Manila.

Famous Restaurant in Pampanga, a place to dine with friends in Clark, cozy restaurant with a nice ambience, a nice function place for special occassions

Does anyone know how difficult it is to find a decent beach wedding venue in the Philippines? Sure, there are a lot of beautiful beaches but to find a beach where we can have a wedding ceremony in Philippines is next to impossible.

Beach wedding venue is very popular in Manila, Subic, Pampanga Angeles City and
Clark Philippines. Young wedding couples prefer outdoor beach wedding followed up by garden styled outdoor wedding receptions in Philippines. Best beach wedding venue in Philippines is Clearwater Resort wedding venues near Manila, Angeles City, Clark Philippines.

Traffic along the North Expressway NLEX from Manila to Clark is always light and the new Subic Tarlac Clark Expressway ScTex takes visitors straight into Clark Freeport without going through any towns and cities along the way.

For information as well as assistance with reservations in hotels and resorts in Pampanga, Clark Philippines, click here to contact HotelClarkPhilippines now

Or call us at

Hotel Clark Philippines
Creekside Road corner of Centennial Road,
Central Business District, Clark Freeport Zone,
Pampanga, Philippines 2023

Tel: (045)599-5949 0917-520-4403 0922-870-5177

Manila Sales Office
3003C East Tower, Phil Stock Exchange Center,
Exchange Rd Ortigas Metro Manila, Philippines 1605
(632) 637-5019 0917-520-4393 Rea or Chay

http://www.HotelClarkPhilippines.com

Email: Info@ClarkPhilippines.com

Getting to this hotel in Clark Philippines
After entering Clark Freeport from Subic, Manila, Dau and Angeles City, proceed straight along Clark’s main highway MA Roxas, passing Clark’s largest wine shop called Clark Wine Center on your right, continue to bear right making no turns at all, go past Mimosa Leisure Estate on the opposite side of the road, you will hit a major intersection. Go straight and the road becomes Creekside Road. YATS Clearwater Resort and Country Club is on your right just 200m down. Traffic in Clark Philippines is light so it should be quite easy for get to this hotel in Clark Philippines.

YATS Leisure Philippines is a HK-based developer and operator of clubs, resorts and high-class restaurants and wine outlets http://www.YatsLeisure.com

To inquire with the beach resort hotel in Clark Pampanga visit http://www.ClearwaterPhililippines.com

Looking for a party venue in town?
Clearwater Resort and Country Club is one of the ideal venues for birthday party because it is a risk free venue. Not only Birthday Parties but also a good place to enjoy family reunion. A good place to celebrate special occasions. Clearwater Resort and Country Club is one of the resorts in Subic Clark Angeles City Pampanga or near Manila with activity amenities, place that are nice for celebration.