Wonen in de Filipijnen

De Verenigde Naties hebben enkele dagen een nieuw bericht de wereld ingestuurd:
"Big investments needed to halt new Asia food crisis: UN

Nearly 650 million Asians are suffering from hunger and the situation will continue to worsen unless spending on the farm sector is dramatically increased, United Nations food experts warned Wednesday.

Although food prices have dropped since the height of the global food crisis in 2008, the problem of malnourishment is worsening and governments are not investing enough in agriculture, they warned.

Over 60 million Asians became malnourished last year, raising the regional total to 642 million, Jacques Diouf, head of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation, told an international food security conference in Manila.

"The sheer magnitude of food insecurity is the result of the low priority that has been given to agriculture in economic development policies," Diouf said in a video address to the conference.

Food prices in Asia remain between 20 and 30 percent higher than 2007 levels, FAO Asia Pacific director Hiroyuki Konuma told reporters on the sidelines of the conference.

The world as a whole needs annual farm investments of 200 billion dollars over the next 40 years to feed the world's human population, which is expected to grow to 9.1 billion by 2050, Konuma said.

In Asia alone, 120 billion dollars are needed every year, according to Konuma.

"We have a shortfall of 40 billion dollars for this region," he said.

Konuma said governments had been lulled into complacency by farm-yield breakthroughs from the 1960s that gave rise to the "Green Revolution" and raised farm outputs three-fold, lifting hundreds of millions out of poverty.

But he said in the decade leading to the 2007-2008 global food crisis, annual output growth around the world stagnated for rice and wheat -- two of the most important cereals.

"We have to triple the pace of production (for rice and wheat) in the next 20 years," Konuma said.

Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda, the forum's host, said global food prices were still 85 percent higher than 2003 levels.

More than 25 percent of Asian children aged five or younger are moderately to severely underweight, more than a third are moderately or severely stunted, and 18 percent of infants are born with a low birth weight, he said.

"These statistics belie a crisis that will only get worse in the years to come unless immediate action is taken," he said.

"Add to this rapid population growth, climate change and water shortages, and the need for action is blindingly apparent."

Intussen gaan de Verenigde Staten van Anerika en bondgenoten door met oorlog voeren in Irak, Afghanistan en Pakistan. Biljoenen dollars zijn er al aan besteed en nog meer biljoenen dollars zullen er nog aan besteed worden. Hoe langer die troepen daar blijven, hoe meer het kost.
Anderzijds stuurt ook de nieuwe administratie van kersverse president van de Filipijnen Noynoy Aquino een bericht in de wereld:

"Philippine celebrities targeted in new tax campaign

Philippine celebrities are to be leaned on by inland revenue officials who said Tuesday they will begin targeting stars as part of a new crackdown on tax evasion.

Although the campaign will cover other high earners, there will be a special focus on celebrities to set an example to the showbiz-crazed Philippine public.

"For celebrities, it's easier (to check) if they are reporting (earnings) or not. You just watch the TV, look at billboards or the magazines," tax commissioner Kim Henares said in an interview with ABS-CBN television.

A staffer from Henares' office told AFP they would focus on "those in the media who are earning quite a big amount".

"They will be used as examples to highlight the activities the bureau of internal revenue is undertaking in this area," said the staffer who asked not to be identified.

The details of the campaign are still being thrashed out as part of a wider effort to cut down on rampant tax evasion, said aides of Henares.

President Benigno Aquino, who took office on June 30, has said the government will control its ballooning deficit with improved collections rather than resorting to new taxes.

Celebrities like movie and sports stars are held in high regard in the Philippines, with many being elected to high office"

Uiteraard betaalt niemand graag belastingen. Het is een noodzakelijk kwaad. Als het belastinggeld in de Filipijnen zal worden aangewend voor het lenigen van de nood van velen, is het goed besteed. Als het belastinggeld in de USA aangewend wordt om oorlogen te financieren, dan is dat zonder meer schandalig.

"The Philippines' once pristine island of Boracay has become extremely overdeveloped, with its famous beach now choked by sewage and too many bars, the country's new tourism minister said Friday".

De Verenigde Naties hebben enkele dagen een nieuw bericht de wereld ingestuurd:"Big investments needed to halt new Asia food crisis: UN

De Verenigde Naties hebben enkele dagen een nieuw bericht de wereld ingestuurd:
"Big investments needed to halt new Asia food crisis: UN