RP stands tallest in war against poverty

MANILA - If nothing else, Filipinos are standing tall and proud in the fight to end destitution.

Topping even India and its billion population, the Philippines has earned the world record for the largest group of people ever mobilized to “Stand Up and Take Action” against poverty, the United Nations announced Wednesday.

The United Nations, through its resident coordinator Vanessa Tobin, said 35.2 million Filipinos, or more than a third of the 88.6 million population, took part in antipoverty activities on Oct. 17-19.

“We were surprised, pleasantly surprised. Our target was only 15 million people,” Dulce Marie Saret, advocacy specialist on the National Millennium Development Goals Campaign, said in a news conference at Club Filipino in San Juan City.

“No other country can come close to the Philippines as far as mobilizing the largest number of participants is concerned,” Minar Pimple, UN Millennium Campaign deputy director for Asia, said in a statement.

Verified by Guinness

The Philippines’ total stood at 35,264,652, according to SGV & Co., the country’s largest auditing firm, which tabulated for two days all local antipoverty events registered by participating groups and individuals.

The figure was verified and officially confirmed by Guinness World Records.

India, the planet’s second most populous state next to China, was the runner-up with about 17 million people joining the program, Saret said.

On Tuesday night, Guinness also announced from its London headquarters a new record of 116,993,629 participants in the “Stand Up” campaign all over the planet, far exceeding last year’s global count of 43 million.

In a press statement, Salil Shetty, director of the UN Millennium Campaign, said people around the globe had assembled in numbers too large to ignore, demanding that world leaders deliver on the promises they made in the year 2000 to stamp out extreme poverty and achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

“Already, world leaders are responding. History has shown us that mass mobilizations have the power to change the course of history, and we will not stop mobilizing and advocating for action until the Millennium Development Goals are achieved,” Shetty said.

Planting vegetables, trees

Schoolchildren made up the bulk of the Philippine participants, with the Department of Education enlisting as many as 18 million students and teachers from public and private grade schools and high schools to the cause.

Assistant Education Secretary Jonathan Malaya said the students’ participation involved planting vegetables and fruit-bearing trees on school campuses to supplement the feeding program for undernourished children.

Particular focus was made in planting “malunggay” in school gardens because of its nutritional benefits, Malaya said.

Several other government agencies led by the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC), as well as nongovernmental and media organizations, took part in the “Stand Up” campaign.

The NAPC, for instance, kicked off the first leg of its campaign at Rizal Park in Manila on Oct. 17, said Assistant Secretary Dolores de Quiros-Castillo.

She said the event featuring job fairs, information booths, and medical and dental services, among others, drew at least 5,000 people, mostly from poor communities in Payatas, Quezon City, and Parola in Tondo, Manila.

In all, the NAPC contributed some four million to the total, De Quiros-Castillo said.

Traditional winner

Saret said the Philippines had traditionally won the numbers game in terms of participation when considering population ratios.

“But this year is the first time the Philippines won in absolute numbers,” Saret said in an interview.

Of the 191 countries that joined the action, Asian countries like the Philippines, India, Thailand, Nepal and Bangladesh contributed much of the numbers.

“In Europe they can only muster about 100,000,” Saret said.

But she pointed out that the Philippine numbers would only have meaning if these translated to policy change and real action.

Saret said the “Stand Up” campaign began in 2006 when the participants “literally stood up” against poverty.

The following year, the theme became “Stand Up, Speak Out,” in which leaders publicly wished for an end to suffering in the most destitute parts of the world, she said.

“This year we thought: Enough of the talk and pledging, now we need concrete actions,” Saret said, adding:

“We need to do something, even if it’s just little things that address poverty. We need to do the little things.”