SONA 2013 GDP Growth: Ginhawa sa iilan, Kahirapan pa rin sa mamayan, Anyare?

‘Growth’ for whom?: The poor getting larger, poorer and miserable

Despite the boast of being Asia’s fastest growing economy, in spite of the stellar ratings given by the Big 3 rating firms, the most recent Philippine poverty figures show that in June 2012 the destitution was ironically worsening or at least “had no statistical difference to the poverty incidence in 2006.”

In this case, NSCB deserves praise that while it proudly announced in January the GDP hike, it likewise humbly admitted in April that poverty rate was barely changed to the chagrin of some top officials in the Aquino government.
Although deemed by independent studies as yet “conservative” or “trimmed down,” the official data on “poor” people, issued by NSCB last April 23, bared that this was practically unchanged from 28.8 percent of the population in 2006 to 27.9 percent in 2012 (or 23.4 percent of total families to 22.3 percent in the same period).

Hence, in June 2012 about 28 of 100 Philippine families or estimated at over 25 million Filipinos were considered “poor” or barely living on P7,821 a monthly income (for a family of five), which includes P5,458 for basic food needs alone. Still below this poverty threshold are those living in “extreme poverty,” which remained virtually unchanged also from 14.2 percent of the population in 2006 to 13.4 percent in 2012 (or 10.8 percent of families to 10.0 percent in the same period).

Moreover, the United Nations (UN) reported last October that hardly three years into the deadline of completing the seven Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), the Philippines failed in four, including eradicating extreme poverty as well as achieving universal primary education, reducing child mortality and sustaining maternal health.

Pre-SONA rally at Makati July 18, 2013

The Strong(arm) Republic: APL Comments on Gloria Macapagal Arroyo's State of the Nation Address

Hindi tayo binigo ni Gloria! She said the things that we would expect a traditional politician like her would say in a SONA address: half-truths; misleading and unsubstantiated statements; minor achievements blown out of proportion; downright lies; and a lot of promises!

The State of Gloria’s Imagination

GMA’s claim that internationally “the Philippines is back on the map” and that our country has “the third best performing economy in Asia and the best in southeast Asia” flies in the face of reality! Such claims mean nothing in a situation where the country has continually ranked first in unemployment rate in Asia since 1998.[1] As of April this year, 4.866 million or 13.9% of workers are unemployed. According to a recent POPCOM report, 40% are now living below poverty line. That means four out of 10 Filipinos lived on less than P38 a day![2]

Her claims that her land reform and housing programs was a success is grossly misleading! While the 103% accomplishment based on her SONA target may grab headlines, the 104,261 hectares distributed for land reform is, in reality, the lowest achievement of an administration since 1998![3] It is a case of setting the target so low that one does not have to do much to surpass it! (See Table 1) Table 1: DAR's LAD ANNUAL ACCOMPLISHMENTS, 1996-2001
YEAR/ADMINISTRATION AREA DISTRIBUTED
(in hectares)
1988 (Aquino) 135,693
1989 111,665
1990 183,062
1991 279,892
1992 (Aquino/Ramos) 260,040
1993 (Ramos) 407,680
1994 433,678
1995 289,324
1996 300,195
1997 (Ramos/Estrada) 210,326
1998 (Estrada) 137,358
1999 132,069
2000 110,478
2001 (Arroyo) 104,261
Source: DAR March 2002


The same goes for her housing program. Last year, GMA promised to provide affordable housing to the Filipino people. She vowed to provide 100,000 housing units for workers 50,000 houses for the marginalized. She even promised P20 billion for home financing within the year. She claims 100% accomplishment in this area. But that amounts to nothing considering the fact that the housing backlog is at 4.5 million! [4] Not to mention that the P20 billion she promised did not materialize. As it turned out, the money she was eyeing was supposed to come from workers’ pockets (savings in Pag-Ibig)! It’s a good thing we managed to stop her lackey, Mike Defensor, from dipping his hands into this fund! Bakit manngagawa ang gagastos para sa pagpapaganda ni Gloria?

Gloria’s claim that her comprehensive 10-point plan has reduced power costs from being the 2nd most expensive in Asia to being the 6th was meant to mislead the people into thinking that she has finally fixed the problem! What she failed to mention was that her “comprehensive plan” continues to honor the onerous contracts with the IPPs! And as long as that is the case, we would still end up paying more than we should! And let us not forget that it was Gloria who privatized the power sector!

Of course Gloria failed to mention anything about water rates which have gone up by more than 200% compared to its pre-privatization level. After all, her government intends to kowtow to the demands of the Lopezes and the Ayalas to grant their petitions for rate increases including rate re-basing anytime soon!

Then she also forgot to mention anything about the curtailment of workers’ and trade union rights, the continuing illegal demolitions in urban poor areas, and other instances of anti-people policies!

So when she claimed that the “immediate crises have been resolved,” one wonders, which country’s situation was she describing?

Walang Gloria sa Pagbabalik ng mga Kano!

When Gloria claimed that our country has “gained powerful allies in our domestic war against terrorism,” she must have been dreaming when she added that, “I am certain that our increased international visibility will continue generating capital inflows for the Philippines.” Instead of gaining credibility and security for the country by embracing the US-led "war on terrorism”, it is very likely that the opposite is the case. After all, the “military response has deepened the alienation of the Filipino Muslims and the expanding US military presence in the South is likely to bring us into confrontation with our Muslim neighbors in Indonesia and Malaysia.”[5] It is, as another writer puts it, a “tripwire (patibong) to a bigger, internationalized war!” GMA seems to have conveniently ignored the fact that the conflict in Mindanao is rooted in the historical, political, economic and cultural injustices against our Muslim brothers that has spawned widespread poverty and social exclusion – the roots of terrorism!

Of course she did not mention anything about the numerous violations of human rights committed during the course of joint US-RP military exercises in Basilan!

To top it all, by saying that “we shall enhance our strategic relationship with the United States through continuing training exercises to sharpen our soldiers’ capabilities,” Gloria effectively confirmed what we have always warned the public against: that the “US troops will be staying here longer; they will be more directly involved in combat; and a new agreement for permanent US military access will be up for approval soon.”[6]

Indeed, if there is any achievement that Gloria can truly claim credit for, it is the fact that her government has thrown back the country to the fetters of US colonialism. And there is a simple word that can best describe her brand of diplomacy… subservience!

A Strong Republic?

If Gloria’s presentation of the state of the nation was partly incomplete and misleading and partly fictitious, her prescription for a “strong republic” is at best a confused idea, at worst a hint of dangerous direction!

She said that a strong republic is marked by “independence from class and sectoral interests so that it stands for the interests of the people rather than of a powerful minority.” This statement is devoid of any structural understanding of this country’s poverty! No one wants to be poor. People are poor because they are kept in that condition, violently in most cases, by those that enjoy the fruits of their labor – the rich minority! Thus to be able to stand “for the interest of the people rather than that of the powerful minority,” government, or the republic as she puts it, would have to stand behind the interest of the poor! And this she confirmed by saying, “Ang malakas na republika ay para sa mahihina, para sa mahihirap, para sa walang trabaho, para sa nagugutom, para sa nanganganib, para sa agrabyado, para sa mga api!”

So how can government be for those who are weak, unemployed, hungry, endangered, victimized and oppressed when it should be independent from class and sectoral interests? Ano ba talaga Gloria?

But if she was confused about her definition of what a “strong republic” is, there should be no doubt about the dangers of the direction she hinted she wanted to take. Gloria said that “criminals are criminals, whether of the common kind or the kind that kill in the name of political advocacies.” Such a statement is but a step away from criminalizing political dissent!

A cursory look at the different versions of anti-terrorism bills now pending in Congress verifies this direction by broadening the definition of what consists a act of terrorism. It was designed to criminalize political dissent!

Come to think of it, in the movie Episode II: Attack of the Clones, the call for a strong republic was the pretext used by Supreme Chancellor Palpatin in building his evil empire! Beware of the dark side of the force!

Walang Gloria ang Kinabukasan Natin Kay Gloria

So what can we expect from our President?

While many governments around the world are starting to veer away from neo-liberal policies, Gloria intends to keep her faith in this discredited project! Thus we should not be surprised if more LDP policies would be thrown our way.

And if we allow her to have her “anti-terrorism bill,” she would have no second thoughts about using it against our legitimate right to dissent and to fight for a better world!

Creating and improving job opportunities would be GMA’s “working agenda for the coming year.” But her plan to do so – attracting investments, perhaps foreign ones – is unimaginative! She even promised to fight corruption, ensure peace and order and low power costs to do so. Again she misses the point! The country would continue to be a lackluster target for private investments, foreign or otherwise, because of our limited domestic market. Any discussion on addressing the massive unemployment must start from wealth redistribution through asset reform and the rapid development of agriculture and industries. But we can develop our agriculture and industries only if we veer away from the “free trade” ideas promoted by the IFIs and the WTO and staunchly defended by GMA herself! Obviously that idea is not acceptable for GMA and her kind!

Even her urgent request to “pass a law to give overseas Filipinos the right to vote, consistent with the Constitution…that will give equal respect and recognition to an overseas Filipino’s dual citizenship, consistent with our national honor,” must not fool us into relaxing our vigilance. After all, the trapo-dominated Congress can easily mangle this bill beyond recognition!

Gloria or any of her kind will not save us. After all elites would always look after their interests!

We need to continue fighting for our own future, a better one than what Gloria envisions! This would include: fighting for an alternative development paradigm; opposing the anti-terrorism bills; opposing power and water price increases and ensuring more accessible, efficient and truly service-oriented utilities; fighting for affordable housing and, pushing for labor centennial bills.

But more importantly, we need to continue strengthening the social movement. There is nothing else that we can rely on but our unity! We have no choice but to intensify the struggle for social transformation through social movement unionism!


[1] “A State of the Nation Address tailor made for Washington” by Walden Bello and Mary Louise Malig, Focus on the Global South.
[2] PDI, July 5, quoting POPCOM report
[3] “Gma's Sona Commitments On Agriculture and Agrarian Reform: A Year Hence” by Marissa de Guzman
[4] “Housing Promise Remains Elusive: To Dream the Impossible Dream” by Cathy Rose A. Garcia, Business World Anniversary Report 2002
[5] Bello and Malig
[6] "Endless war games and word games for endless war" by Herbert Docena

THE DISHEVELED STATE OF GLORIA

A Joint Statement on the
State of the Nation Address
22 July 2002

Numbers don't lie. On July 22, as she delivers her second State of the Nation Address (SONA), Gloria Arroyo, the economist-turned-president-by-sheer-luck, will surely brag. First, she will refresh our memory on what mess she inherited from her corrupt predecessor, then she will review the targets she has set in her last SONA, then she will proceed to brag about the nice round figures that her government was able to deliver for the past 1 year and 8 months. Of course, these are figures her lieutenants have so fastidiously prepared to fit into a speech extolling the rosy state of the economy under Ate Glo's watch - an economy upon which a "strong republic" is to be built. This is the "strong republic" she hopes to lord over beyond 2004, if she bags a fresh presidential mandate.

The economic numbers indeed are there, and they may be as verifiable as other figures in any data sheet. In the first quarter, the GNP grew by 4.9% and the GDP by 3.8%. Portfolio investments are said to have increased by 217% from last year and direct foreign investments rose by 101%. Inflation and interest rates are low and the peso is stable relative to the dollar. Her housing czar boasted recently that the government exceeded the SONA target last year by 113% in providing security of tenure to poor dwellers. An additional 1,513 barangays nationwide are now energized and have electricity. The agriculture sector boasted of almost a million new jobs. Fantastic.

But can these seemingly simple figures really stand the scrutiny of simple questions? If the GNP and the GDP grew, why did the number of poor families increase as well? Where is this growth the president is bragging about? Where is it happening? Who can feel this growth? Or, better yet, who benefits from this growth? Certainly not the 40% of Filipinos who now live in poverty.

Numbers don't lie, really. And so we might as well pose the numbers that Gloria will not talk about in her SONA. Aside from the poverty incidence that swelled from 33% to 40%, the SONA should cite the highest unemployment rate since 1996 that now beset the nation. In concrete terms, this translates to about 4.8 million people without work - the highest in Southeast Asia. The ranks of the underemployed now reached 6 million. If the president knows her economics well, a level of unemployment this high suggests an equally high level of desperation in the labor force; people latching on to jobs that do not pay enough and do not offer enough benefits and security for lack of better options. As if to clinch the cheerless scenario, the government already reached a staggering 83% of its target deficit for 2002 in the first 5 months of the year. This rising deficit -- mainly due to low tax collection and higher government spending and borrowings -- spells disaster for the already inadequate budget intended for basic social services.
More telling stories are behind the numbers. Of the investments that came in, more than 80% have been poured into Metro Manila and Central Luzon, while the rest of the country vied for the measly 18%. The new jobs that absorb our labor are seriously unsustainable as these are mostly in the service sectors, especially with the entry of multinational call centers that attract our young workers. These trends point mainly to a serious deceleration in production and an increasing insecurity for the working people. The market rules, yes, but for whom? Despite the bleakness, Gloria remains obstinate in insisting that neo-liberal economics is good economics.

Politically, we are just as bankrupt. We have been promised "good governance," a "high moral standard in government" and a "new brand of politics." After almost two years, we find ourselves as far away from these lofty goals as we were before. It is as if EDSA Dos did not happen. Instead of political reforms, we now know of political accommodation. Instead of justice, we are given the hollow slogan of "a healing presidency" where only the lacerated egos of the dispossessed elite are healed while the deep wounds on the backs of the poor rendered by poverty and economic exclusion are left to rot.

Gloria who admits to be deficient in charisma but not wanting in intellect has reinvented herself as "the president of both EDSA Dos and EDSA Tres." Unfortunately, she does not seem to speak of the masses of the two EDSAs as her constituents. She obviously refers to the political opportunists and turncoats - the types that EDSA Dos spurned - whom she has been courting of late. The mandate of EDSA Dos to rid government of corruption and the corrupt - to exorcise the ghosts of Erap -- has been set aside for the more urgent agenda of consolidating Gloria's political network of supporters come 2004. Traditional politics is never outdated.

The political bankruptcy of Gloria's government was further exposed when the Senate scuffle happened in June. Keenly aware of the Gloria's political insecurity, the wheeling-and-dealing trapos knew that Gloria would deftly bend backwards to appease her own kind. After all, they knew that the "president of Edsa Dos and Edsa Tres" can surely play the game of politicians of every possible political color. A "new brand of politics"? Think again.

But perhaps the crowning legacy of Gloria and her government is bringing back the country to the fetters of US colonialism. While a policy of deferment is concocted to camouflage the neo-liberal color of her economic policies, she shamelessly galloped with the US-led anti-terrorism crusade as the logic of the Balikatan exercises. She went on to define the nation's foreign policy as an adjunct to the US-led global war. Guingona only knew too well how serious Gloria can be with foreign policy, especially if such policy can ensure the coveted US support in 2004.

If there is an anathema to the spirit of EDSA Dos, it is ironically in the person of the single biggest beneficiary of EDSA herself - Gloria. While EDSA represented for most a cry for change to achieve equity and good governance, for Gloria, it was merely the start of a long presidential campaign. She has become the candidate she has always been - and eagerly so. We - as the genuine architects of EDSA Dos - have to remind her then that, with her bankrupt economic policies and an equally bankrupt style of politics, she is not far away from the fate of her corrupt predecessor. In the final analysis, it was not the Supreme Court that gave Gloria the mantle of authority; it was the toiling Filipino masses. Her constitutional mandate can just as easily be eroded as it was easily given her.

Gloria should listen closely to what we have to say about the disheveled state of the nation. Perhaps she should listen and unburden herself of so much neo-liberal rubbish and understand this: it is equitable distribution and redistributive growth that matter. It is asset reform and progressive taxation rather than pump priming through relentless borrowing. It is sustainable development rather than the neo-liberal quick fix. It is good governance rather than traditional politics. What we demand is nothing short of social transformation!

TIGILAN ANG PAMUMULITIKA AT OPORTUNISMO!
LABANAN ANG PANGHIHIMASOK NG MGA AMERIKANO!
IBASURA ANG KONTRA-MAMAMAYANG PATAKARANG PANG-EKONOMIYA!

Alyansa w Alliance of Progressive Labor (APL) - Bukluran sa Ikauunlad ng Sosyalistang Isip at Gawa (BISIG) - Confederation of Independent Unions in the Public Sector (CIU) - Manggagawang Kababaihang Mithi ay Paglaya (MAKALAYA) - Movement for the Advancement of Student Power (MASP) - Pambansang Kilusan ng mga Samahan sa Kanayunan (PKSK)




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