THE Labor Center Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) today said that the unfortunate death of an 11-year old girl who hanged herself in Davao City should be a wakeup call for the Arroyo government to make a second look at poverty in the Philippines.


KMU Chairperson Elmer 'Ka Bong' Labog said Mariannet Amper, a grade-6 pupil in Davao City became a young martyr due to government's sheer stubbornness and insensitivity to the plight of the majority number of Filipinos.


" The despicable condition of Mariannet's family which drove her to commit suicide is the typical situation of a Filipino family. Her father has no job, her mother was forced to do laundry to make a living and she cannot regularly go to school because of lack of money and even food to eat in their home. But the Arroyo government is too hard-headed to realize the anguish of millions of Filipinos. The economic growth it is boasting in high heavens is not felt by ordinary Filipinos. It has no trickle-down effects to us workers," Labog said.


The labor leader also registered that widespread poverty really exists in the country as validated by a study of International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). According to the IFPRI, some 11 million Filipinos are among the 1 billion people across the globe living on less than $1 a day, a threshold defined as extreme poverty by the United Nations.


Labog, on the other hand, said that while an 11-year old girl had killed herself due to lack of money, the country is given a joy ride through a string of admissions that millions of pesos exchanged hands in the controversial Malacanang payoffs last October 11.


" What is unbearable to know is that while many Filipinos die everyday because of lack of food to eat and money to buy basic medicines, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her minions are playing with money like a deck of cards. It is unconscionable that they live like kings and queens when majority of Filipinos wallow in destitution," Labog said.


KMU condoles with the family and loved ones of ex-Senator Saguisag


The militant KMU today expressed grief over the untimely death of Senator Rene Saguisag's wife Dulce Quintanas Saguisag, following a vehicular accident this morning.


The labor center also hopes for the swift recovery of the former senator.