Ang Pilipinas Ngayon: Government in Service of the Filipino People!

June 29, 2010 - PRLog -- Government of the people is what President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has established for the country.  It is the realization of the people’s dream for accessible basic commodities and services as fulfilled by the government.

When every Filipino, especially the marginalized, is benefiting from the reforms and initiatives of the government, then it has succeeded in alleviating the plight of the poor and the underprivileged sector of society.

Since her assumption to office, President Arroyo has committed her term to eradicate poverty and uplift the living standards of every Filipino family.  Through several assistance and intervention programs, government intensified its actions to realize the delivery of basic services to the poor.

Hosted by Caritas Executive Director Fr. Anton Pascual and Miss International 2005 Precious Lara Quigaman, Ang Pilipinas Ngayon discusses these and other achievements of the country in its daily advocacy spots that air during the commercial gaps of TV Patrol, Showtime and Umagang Kay Ganda on ABS-CBN Ch. 2 and World Tonight and Top Story on ANC.

Ang Pilipinas Ngayon is brought to us by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, Stradcom, Philtranco, Petron, United Coconut Planter’s Bank, North Luzon Expressway, Development Bank of the Philippines, Pacific Pearl Airways Aviation School, Strategic Alliance Holdings, Inc., San Miguel Corporation and produced by the Pangarap ng Pilipino Movement.

The Arroyo administration established the Kapit-Bisig Laban sa Kahirapan Comprehensive and Integrated Delivery of Social Services (KALAHI-CIDSS) specifically for the purpose of providing the population functional water systems, irrigations, farm-to-market roads, school buildings, and a lot of other necessities.  

   Through the KALAHI-CIDSS, over 4,200 community projects were implemented which served close to 800,000 households of the poorest communities.

   The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program, a poverty reduction strategy that provided grants to extremely poor households to improve their health, nutrition, and education particularly of children aged 14 and below was implemented to help our countrymen in need.

Since the program was launched, some 709,000 households throughout the country have already benefited through cash grants.  Government has allocated P10 billion to fund this project.

Society’s vulnerable sectors such as women, senior citizens, children, and persons with disabilities also received protection from government through laws and programs.

   Just recently, the Expanded Senior Citizens Act was signed into law, which in effect lifts the burden of value-added tax among senior citizen consumers and enables senior citizens to avail of the 20 percent senior citizens discount that was originally envisioned for them under the superseded law.

   Persons with disabilities (PWDs), on the other hand, got renewed support with the signing of the Magna Carta for PWDs.  The law directs local government units to establish a “persons with disability affairs office” to ensure the implementation of programs and services for persons with disabilities in every province, city, and municipality across the country.

   Women and children were also given particular attention by government with the passage of relevant laws for their protection.

   The Anti-Child Labor Act was finally signed into law to protect and save children from exploitative working conditions that impede their physical and mental growth.  
 
   Interrelated laws such as the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act as well as the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act were likewise passed to protect women and children from harmful conditions and preserve their rights as guaranteed by the constitution.

The Philippines has also secured its niche in history with the signing into law of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act, the Philippines being the first country in Southeast Asia to come up with this tough legislation.  

To support the budget requirements for all the intervention and assistance programs for the marginalized and vulnerable sectors of society, the government intensified its tax collection duties.

In February this year, government was able to collect almost P51 billion, higher than the P47.40 billion tax collection during the same period in 2009.

As all Filipinos now have access to basic goods and services, the quality of life for most Filipinos has gone several notches higher.  Indeed, it was a government that cared and worked for the people.  

To learn more about the advocacy program visit www.angpilipinasngayon.com and www.pangpinoymovement.org
Like Ang Pilipinas Ngayon on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/AngPilipinasNgayon
Follow Ang Pilipinas Ngayon on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/PILIPINASNGAYON

# # #

The Pangarap ng Pilipino Movement (Pang-Pinoy Movement) is a movement of like-minded Filipino advocates from the private sector, civil society, and government agencies who believe in the Filipino, have pride in the Philippines, and aspire to realize our nation’s patriotic ideals during the EDSA 1 and 2 Revolutions for all Filipinos to attain genuine democracy and real progress in our everyday lives.