|
News Release
July 26, 2009
SONA: Thousands of protesters cry “No more cha-cha, no more Gloria!”
Starting 6:00 am tomorrow, protesters will start pouring in Commonwealth
Avenue to take part in the day long demonstration against President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo’s last State of the Nation Address. At 9:00am, the Bagong
Alyansang Makabayan will be rolling out the giant effigy of Arroyo mounted
on bulldozer with the words “Gloria Forever” and “Charter change”.
Some 15,000 people are expected to join the mass action in Commonwealth
Avenue, and thousands more are expected in protest actions in other parts
of the Philippines.
“The message from the people, the SONA from the streets, would be a call
for Mrs. Arroyo to abandon Charter change and any maneuver to stay in
power. A pitch for Cha-cha, despite the public opposition, would be a
terrible mistake and would show gross insensitivity to the people’s
sentiments,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.
“A pitch for Charter change will cement Arroyo’s legacy as the most
power-obsessed president since Marcos. That is how she will be remembered.
That's her legacy,” he added.
A summary of Arroyo's SONA was released to the media. It vows to include
political and constitutional reforms as part of the thrust of Arroyo in
its last months in office.
Reyes said "political reforms" is just a pretext for Arroyo to push for
her self-serving Charter change amid widespread public opposition.
Bayan said that from Arroyo’s first SONA to her last, the country’s
problems have gone from bad to worse. “We have record unemployment and
labor migration, hunger and poverty. Mrs. Arroyo will also be remembered
for making inflation rise to record highs because of her expanded Value
Added Tax on oil and power. She will be remembered as the President who
borrowed and paid the most foreign debt while spending the least for
social services,” Reyes said.
“No flashy audio-visual presentation by Mrs. Arroyo can conceal the
worsening problems under her regime. The applause she will receive in that
chamber will be meaningless for the thousands gathered outside Batasang
Pambansa,” he added.
Bayan also slammed security preparations for the SONA as “proof that
Arroyo has moved farther and farther away from the people.”
“Over the years, protesters have been pushed farther and farther away from
the Batasang Pambansa. At Arroyo’s first SONA, protesters were allowed at
Batasan Road. Now, in her ninth SONA, protesters have been pushed back
beyond St. Peter’s church. That distance has become sort of a indication
how far she has moved away from the people,” Reyes said. ###
|
 |
 |
News Release
July 20, 2009
Artist group Ugatlahi prepares final effigy for GMA
For the last eight years, the artist collective Ugatlahi has labored every
July to build effigies that have become attractions at protests during the
State of the Nation Address of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. This
year, after having built 8 Arroyo effigies since 2001, the artist group
hopes to build its last for Mrs. Arroyo.
Working on this year’s effigy are Cultural Center of the Philippines
“Thirteen Artists” awardees Iggy Rodriguez and Buen Calubayan together
with veteran visual artist Max Santiago. They are working with
professional as well as student artists in making one of the biggest and
most menacing effigies in recent years. This year’s effigy will stand 12
foot tall and will roll down Commonwealth Avenue in the morning of July 27
as one of the highlights of the protests led by the Bagong Alyansang
Makabayan (Bayan).
The effigy has been the main visual for protest actions. Through the
different SONA’s, the effigy captures the theme for the protest and the
burning issues of the day.
In 2001, the effigy was called the “Gloria in a Box”, in reference to the
toy “Jack in the Box”. At that time, her policies were still unfolding. In
2002, Ugatlahi built the “Gloria Anay”, a reference to the term “termites”
used by Arroyo to describe elements who were out to destabilize her
regime.
In 2003, the group constructed the “Running Glo”, an effigy that made
reference to her bid of running in the 2004 elections. The effigy featured
moving legs. Arroyo had made the announcement in December 2002 that she
will not run for president in the 2004 elections. She later took back this
statement in October 2003.
In 2004, the effigy was the “Gloria Buwitre” or mechanical vulture with
the wings of a fighter plane. The effigy captured people’s objection to
the US invasion of Iraq and the subsequent hostage-taking of Filipino
driver Angelo dela Cruz.
By 2005, at the height of calls for Arroyo’s resignation over allegations
of electoral fraud, the effigy was the “Gloria Kapit-Tuko”, a lizard whose
claws had a tight grip over Malacanang. In 2006, when extrajudicial
killings were on the rise and emergency rule had been declared in
February, the artists put together the “Gloria Hitler” effigy which had a
moving arm that made the infamous Nazi salute.
After the Human Security Act was approved in 2007, the effigy for the SONA
was “Gloria Manananggal”, a reference to a monster in Filipino folklore.
The “manananggal” was a reference to Arroyo being the real “terror”.
The year 2008 saw one of the biggest effigies yet, a sinking ship and a
plane with Arroyo on board. The effigy reflected events from the sinking
of the MV Princess of the Stars and Arroyo’s trip to the United States
when the tragedy occurred. The sinking ship effigy represented the
Philippines.
The last effigy
This year, Charter change and repression will be prominent issues and
themes of the effigy. The artist group will put together the “Gloria
Forever” effigy which would highlight her persistent attempts to stay in
power.
According to Rodriguez, the effigy will feature “a rotting Arroyo” on a
throne that is mounted on a tank or bulldozer. The Arroyo effigy would
portray a “decaying president on life support that wishes to perpetuate
itself in power through the use of charter change and Martial Law.”
“The tank symbolizes her reliance on military might. The life support
system is a symbol of US support for her government. The decaying or
rotting Gloria refers to her eight to nine years in power,” Rodriquez
said.
Santiago hopes that this would indeed be the group’s last attempt at
constructing an Arroyo effigy. “We made eight Gloria effigies already and
this would be the ninth. We hope we don’t have to do another Gloria effigy
next year,” he said.
A slide show of the various SONA effigies since 2001 can be viewed at
Bayan’s official website, www.bayan.ph .
|
|
IBON Statement (SONA) / 27
July 2009
Arroyo Presidency’s Economic Legacy:
A Distorted and Disintegrating Economy
The Arroyo administration has been in office for nine years now – more
than
enough time for an economic program to be put in place and for results to
be
realized. A conscious economic program has been implemented in the form of
the Medium-Term Philippine Development Plan (MTPDP) 2004-2010, presumably
aimed at achieving the ‘aspirational’ targets set by Pres. Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo in her first State of the Nation (SONA) address of July
23,
2001.
Nine years later the administration is unfortunately going be hard-pressed
in claiming any meaningful economic achievements especially in terms of
what
really matters most for Filipinos who have suffered mounting decades of
poverty and underdevelopment. The economic legacy it leaves is a distorted
and disintegrating economy.
The economy has become even more distorted where the benefits from
economic
growth, Filipino labor and natural resources are going to a few. There are
pockets of prosperity in a sea of poverty. It is also disintegrating. Real
domestic production is falling with the share of agriculture and industry
in
the economy shrinking to their smallest in half a century, in the case of
manufacturing, and even in the country’s history, in the case of
agriculture. Perversely, the main drivers of growth have been in
activities
essentially disconnected from the domestic economy and unable to
contribute
to any broad-based economic dynamism– especially overseas work but also
such
as low value-added export manufacturing and business process outsourcing
(BPO).
Any ‘bright spots’ of seemingly vibrant economic activity need to be seen
in
their proper context. The Philippines has a population of some 90 million,
a
labor force of over 38 million, and poverty of at the very least 28
million
(using an unreasonably low poverty line of around P42 per person per day).
The national economy needs to be directed to meeting the needs of all of
these Filipinos which entails, without exaggeration, radical structural
changes breaking the inertia of decades of backwardness.
However the Arroyo administration’ s thrust has been continuous with the
failed economic policies of previous administrations with the inevitable
result of continuing, indeed deepening, economic failure. On the face of
it,
economic growth has been relatively high compared to previous
administrations. Yet the last nine years have also seen record
joblessness,
deteriorating quality of jobs, falling household incomes, increasing
poverty, fiscal crisis, unprecedented debt and debt service, social
service
cutbacks, and deeper Philippine underdevelopment. There is unfortunately
no
inconsistency: the economy has become even more distorted and the gains
from
this growth and economic policy in general have gone to a few and not been
felt by the largest number of the Filipino people. No amount of reporting
of
deceptively ‘hard’ infrastructure achievements, nor indeed of officially
refusing to count millions of jobless by changing the definition of
unemployment, will change underdevelopment realities on the ground.
The onset of global crisis since the last part of 2008 makes the situation
even more urgent. This is undermining the external sources of growth that
the economy has been made to unduly rely on. The crisis exerts severe
downward pressure on exports, foreign investment and remittances– and this
combines with chronically weak domestic industry and agriculture to drag
down domestic manufacturing, consumption and investment. This is
aggravated
by a non-existent ‘stimulus package’ consisting of an insignificant
increase
in the national budget, misrepresentation of standing government programs
as
new and additional in response to the crisis, and hazy promises.
The unfinished business of true national development is a massive task and
will entail challenging deeply entrenched and powerful interests. But this
is precisely the task and responsibility of the government: to use its
vast
economic, financial, administrative and political resources for the
benefit
of the majority Filipino people. Certainly there is still much work to be
done in building economic and political democracy in the country even as,
slowly and painstakingly, there has been progress. The Arroyo presidency
has
set back that progress, even as the growing struggle of Filipinos build
the
foundations of expanding what is politically possible in the period to
come.
(end)
Arroyo Presidency’s Economic Performance
Targets from Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’ s State of the Nation Address,
July 23, 2001 vs. Actual performance
“Our challenge is clear: sugpuin ang kahirapan.”
o 530,642 increase in the number of poor families between 2000 and
2006 – to 4.7 million poor families in 2006. (NSCB, using low official
poverty lines)
o 2.1 million increase in the number of poor Filipinos between 2000
and 2006 – to 27.6 million in 2006. (NSCB, using low official poverty
lines)
o Meanwhile the net income of the Top 1000 corporations in the
Philippines increased 490% between 2001 and 2007, from P116 billion to
P686
billion. (BW)
o In 2006, the net worth of just the 20 richest Filipinos – including
close Arroyo allies Lucio Tan, Enrique Razon, Jr., Eduardo Cojuangco,
Enrique Aboitiz and others – was P801 billion (US$15.6 billion), which was
equivalent to the combined income for the year of the poorest 10.4 million
Filipino families. (Forbes Asia, NSCB)
“The way to fight poverty is to create jobs, not destroy them.”
o The period 2001-2008 is the longest period of sustained high
unemployment in the country’s history – the true unemployment rate
averaged
some 11.2 percent. (NSO, IBON estimates)
o 621,000 increase in unemployment between Jan-01 and Apr-09 – to 4.2
million. (NSO, IBON estimates)
o 1.9 million increase in underemployment between Jan-01 and Apr-09 –
to 6.6 million. (NSO)
o Combined unemployment and underemployment increased 2.5 million
between Jan-01 and Apr-09 – to 10.8 million. (NSO, IBON estimates)
o The quality of jobs has worsened: merely part-time work increased
by 5.9 million and now accounts for 14.3 million or two out of five of all
jobs. Moreover, those “with jobs but not working” more than doubled and
increased by 489,000 to reach 839,000. (NSO)
o The period 2001-2008 has seen the most Filipinos forced abroad to
find jobs in the country’s history – deployments averaged 990,000 annually
compared to 469,709 (Aquino), 713,505 (Ramos) and 839,324 (Estrada); some
1.24 million were deployed last year or 3,400 Filipinos leaving every day.
(POEA) There are over 9 million Filipinos forced to find work abroad.
(DFA-CFO)
“Dapat din tugunan ang karaingan ng madla sa mahal na bilihin at kulang na
sahod.”
o The gap between the NCR minimum wage and the family living wage
more than doubled to P535 in 2008 (NCR minimum wage P382, family living
wage
P917) from just P257 in 2001 (NCR minimum wage P252, family living wage
P509). (DOLE, NWPC)
o Nominal minimum wages are stagnant and barely able to even just
keep up with inflation. While nominal wages in NCR seem to have increased
from P252 in 2001 to P382 in 2008 – or a P130 increase – the true increase
is worth just P12 because of inflation. (DOLE, IBON estimates)
“To reduce excessive friction in labor and management relations, we will
go
the extra mile to work for industrial peace.”
o Since 2001, 62 workers have been extra-judicially killed and 15
others forcibly disappeared. (Karapatan). There have also been 1,478 cases
of trade union human rights violations with 116,356 victims. (CTUHR).
“With regard to the fiscal sector, we will control the budget deficit by
collecting taxes vigorously and spending money prudently.”
o The cumulative national government deficit from 2001 to May 2009 is
P1.29 trillion – triple the deficits of the Aquino, Ramos and Estrada
administrations combined. (BTr)
o The Arroyo administration has paid P4.8 trillion in debt service
since 2001 – this is two-and-a-half times the P1.8 billion in debt
payments
made over 15 years by the Aquino, Ramos and Estrada administrations
combined. (BTr)
o Yet government debt has continued to rise to P4.23 trillion in
March 2009 which is almost double the P2.17 trillion debt inherited from
the
Estrada government. The administration has effectively been borrowing an
additional P256.8 billion annually since coming to power. (BTr)
“A social bias toward the disadvantaged to balance our economic
development
plan. Pagkalinga sa mga bahagi ng lipunan na naiwanan ng kaunlaran.”
o The Arroyo administration (2001-09) allotted only 15.1% of the
national budget to education which is lower than under Estrada (18%,
1999-2000) and Ramos (16.6%, 1992-98). (DBM)
o To health, it allotted only 1.8% of the national budget which is
lower than under Estrada (2.4%), Ramos (2.5%) and Aquino (3.1%,
1986-1991).
(DBM)
o To housing, it allotted only 0.4% of the national budget which is
lower than under Estrada (1.0%), Ramos (0.7%) and Aquino (0.5%). (DBM)
o In 2009, the Arroyo administration is only spending P6 per Filipino
per day on education, P1 on health and 12 centavos on housing – while
paying
the equivalent of P21 on debt service. (IBON computations on DBM data)
“Increase the chances of Filipino children finishing school… [karunungan]
para sa masa”
o The number of out-of-school children and youth increased by 2.45
million between school year 2000-01 and 2008-09 – consisting of an
additional 1.62 million children aged 7-12 years old and an additional
822,097 children aged 13-16 years old – to reach a total of 4.69 million.
(DepED)
o The number of elementary-age out-of-school children increased by 1.62
million between school year 2000-01 and 2008-09 to a total of 2.04
million.
o The number of high school-age out-of-school youth increased by 822,097
between school year 2000-01 and 2008-09 to a total of 2.66 million.
o 1.95 million of these children and youth – consisting of 1.59
million of the elementary-age children and 360,000 of the high-school age
children – are directly due to the deterioration of participation rates
during the Arroyo administration. (IBON computations on DepED data)
Elementary school participation rate dropped from 96.8% in school year
2000-01 to 85.1% in 2008-09; the high school participation rate dropped
from
66.1% to 60.7% over the same period. (DepED)
“There can be a million new jobs in agriculture and fisheries [within the
year]… I don’t want the one million new jobs to come in the long term.”
o Only an average of 258,200 agricultural jobs have been created
annually in the last eight years – from 10.25 million agricultural sector
jobs in 2000, the year before Arroyo came to power, to 12.32 million in
2008. (NSO)
o The agriculture sector has fallen to its smallest share in gross
domestic product (GDP) in the country’s history – 18.1% (2008). (NSCB)
“Sisikapin nating magkaroon ng rice self-sufficiency.”
o Rice imports increased 280% from 639,000 tons in 2001 to a record
2.4 million tons in 2008. (DA)
“Murang bigas at masaganang magsasaka.”
o The price of rice increased 68% between 2000, the year before
Arroyo came to power, and 2008: of regular milled rice to P29.38 per kilo
(from P17.59) and of well milled rice to P32.71 per kilo (from P19.45 in
2000). (DA)
“Bawat taon, mamahagi ang gobyerno ng dalawandaang libong ektarya para sa
reporma sa lupa: 100,000 of private land and 100,000 hectares of public
land, including 100 ancestral domain titles for indigenous peoples.”
o The Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR) of the Arroyo
administration distributed an average of 119,301 hectares annually
(2001-2008) which is smaller than under Estrada (121,274 ha., 1999-2000),
Ramos (296,395 ha., 1993-1998) and Aquino (169,063 ha., 1987-1992). (No
equivalent data available for land distributed by the DENR)
“Information and communications technology (ICT) will jumpstart our old
stalling economy and make it leapfrog into the new economy.”
o The Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry rapidly grew from
5,600 employees and US$56 million in revenues in 2001 to 372,000 employees
and US$6.1 billion in revenues in 2008. (NEDA) But in 2008 the sector
still
accounted for just 1.1% of total employment and only some 2% of gross
domestic product (GDP). (IBON computations on NSCB data)
o The manufacturing sector has meanwhile shrunk to as small as in the
1950s – 23.1% of GDP (2008). (NSCB) The sector lost 51,000 jobs between
Jan-01 (2,885,000 jobs) and Apr-09 (2,834,000). (NSO)
“Kumikilos ang gobyerno upang mapigilan ang pagtaas ng presyo ng mga
pangunahing pangangailangan ng manggagawa. Binabantayan ang presyo ng
langis,”
o The price of diesel rose 220% between 2001 (average P13.96 per
liter) and 2008 (P44.31) and of gasoline by 180% (from P16.58 to P45.92).
(IBON monitoring)
o The peso price per liter of Dubai crude has increased by an average
of P0.16 per month since January 2001 – yet the pump price of diesel has
increased by an average of P0.26 per month, which is excessive even if the
effect of the RVAT law since November 2005 is factored in. (IBON)
“Damihan ang kategoriya ng manggagawang hindi na kailangang magbayad ng
buwis.”
o On average, every Filipino 15 years old and over paid the
government an extra P5,059 in taxes over the last three years (2006-2008).
This is equivalent to the additional P287.0 billion in taxes paid by
Filipinos due to the imposition of RVAT in Nov 2005. (DOF) (IBON
computations)
“Reduce corruption in the executive branch… investigate and prosecute
corruption in high places… reduce corruption among elective officials… no
one is above the law.”
o The total amount of kickbacks, ill-gotten wealth and payoffs
involved in just 16 major corruption cases reaches as much as P20.9
billion
(US$430 million). The amount remains substantial even if the interrupted
NBN-ZTE and Cyber-Education deals are excluded. (Pagbabago! Research
Working
Group)
Sources: Bureau of Treasury (BTr), Department of Agriculture (DA),
Department of Budget and Management (DBM), Department of Education (DepED),
Department of Foreign Affairs-Commission on Filipinos Overseas (DFA-CFO),
National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB), National Statistics Office
(NSO), National Wages and productivity Council (NWPC), Philippine Overseas
Employment Administration (POEA), BusinessWorld Top 100 Corporations,
Forbes
Asia, Center for Trade Union Human Rights (CTUHR), Karapatan and Pagbabago!
Research Working Group.
IBON Foundation
IBON Center 114 Timog Ave.
Quezon City, Philippines
Tel. (632) 9277060 to 62
Fax (632) 9292496
|
 |
 |
IBON Media Release / 21 July
2009
MAJORITY OF NEW JOBS CREATED NON-EARNING, LOW PAYING, PART-TIME WORK
Some 1.3 million or the overwhelming majority of the supposedly
1.5-million new jobs created since last year are actually non-earning,
poorly earning or otherwise insecure jobs including part-time work,
according to research group IBON.
In April 2009, 540,000 of the jobs created were either unpaid family work
(394,000) or domestic household help (146,000). IBON notes that these are
jobs that notoriously earn far below minimum wage, if at all.
Another 803,000 jobs were created in the own-account category
“self-employed”. This is an extraordinary increase in an employment
category that has only seen increases of 45,000 (2007), 74,000 (2008) and
87,000 (2006) in the last three years. This may be taken as a kind of
disguised unemployment and could indicate that many Filipinos are being
driven into the informal sector or, for some, buying into the
entrepreneurship hype. But while government has been aggressive in
promoting entrepreneurship and small businesses many of these informal
sector workers and budding entrepreneurs will be faced with
disappointment. Domestic consumption is weakening further, and demand for
common entrepreneurial goods will likely be low.
There has also been a drastic 2.4 million-increase in part-time work
which, at 14.3 million out of total employed of 35 million, now accounts
for a massive 41% of jobs. The number of those in full-time work in turn
fell by 925,000. This reflects how workers are facing greater work
flexibilization arrangements alongside lower wages, salaries and benefits.
Job creation figures actually show that 1.3 million Filipinos are crowding
into sectors that are stagnating or even shrinking according to first
quarter economic growth figures, which implies that average incomes in
these sectors are falling if not already low. The largest number of jobs
created was in the agriculture sector which registered a 408,000-increase
in jobs but saw year-on-year growth in production falling 0.7 percentage
points in the first quarter of 2009 from the same period last year.
According to IBON, the seeming improvement in the labor market situation
is illusory: there were still at least 4.2 million unemployed in April
2009 (correcting for the misleading change in the NSO definition of
unemployment in 2005), and 6.6 million underemployed– or at least 10.8
million Filipinos looking for work or additional work.
Poor job creation and deteriorating quality of jobs are a significant
factor in explaining why household incomes and consumption are starting to
fall. Seasonally-adjusted personal consumption expenditure actually fell
3.1% in the first quarter of 2009, turning negative for the first time
after about a decade-and-a- half of positive growth.
Clearly, even the surprisingly large job creation in April 2009 from the
year before was not enough to increase household incomes and corresponding
consumption- - highlighting the need for genuine policies that will create
sufficient and quality jobs, beyond government’s token measures like
emergency programs and job fairs. (end)
IBON Foundation, Inc. is an independent development institution
established in 1978 that provides research, education, publications,
information work and advocacy support on socioeconomic issues. |
Video: Arroyo’s Sona: A Litany of Lies
Anti-Sona Protests in Manila, Provinces
