MANILA — Vice President Leni Robredo said on Wednesday that “political noise and neglect” have distracted government and the public from the country’s “war on poverty.”The vice president considers poverty a more pressing problem that has “receded from view” because of the Duterte administration’s focus on the war on drugs. Because if we sincerely want to combat drug-related crimes, we believe that we have to strike at their very root,” Robredo said. To fight drugs, we need to fight poverty and the injustice it causes,” Robredo said. To eliminate poverty, we must dismantle the instruments of violence that cripple our society. “[This] means that our unemployment rate has grown by an astounding 6.7% from the September 2016 numbers,” Robredo said.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer March 01, 2017 09:16 UTC