Pushing for a “bailout package” for the nation’s poor under the banner “Social Protection for the Poor,” urban poor groups lead a campaign to draw attention on the need to implement programs and provide policies for social protection in a time of global economic crisis.

by Lani C. Villanueva

MANILA, 9 March – Civil Society organizations in Manila marked International Women’s Day with a mobilization demanding “Pagkain” (Food), “Trabaho” (Jobs), “Pabahay” (Housing), “Kalusugan” (Health), “Unemployment Insurance Scheme,” and “Subsidy for Jobless Women.” There were rallyists holding giant representations of a lightbulb and a faucet, signifying the demand for access to essential services.        

Women leaders and campaigners belonging to the GCAP coalition in the Philippines joined the mobilization led by the Welga ng Kababaihan (Women’s Strike), a coalition of more than 50 anti-poverty and anti-globalization NGOs and campaign centers. 

Amid the sweltering heat, poor working women, mothers with their children in tow, girls and grandmothers, marched in slippered feet chanting:  Women are suffering under the escalating violence of the global crisis! Pagkain! Trabaho! Pabahay!       

Discontent is sweeping the nation that calls for the government to address the basic needs of the poor in the midst of the crisis is gaining ground. And urban poor groups are leading the call.  The National Urban Poor Coalition (NUPCO), a coalition of several urban poor groups, some of which are affiliated with GCAP-Philippines, is poised to launch a campaign to exact concrete actions from the government to provide social protection for the poor. NUPCO says the groups under its umbrella realize the value of advancing this campaign in terms of consolidating their ranks and building political and economic strength towards reclaiming the poor’s “full rights to a dignified living.”