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Press Statement
July 25, 2011

Reference: Bernadette Ellorin, Chairperson, BAYAN-USA, email: chair@bayanusa.org

One Year Later, Filipinos Still in Crisis Under Aquino-- BAYAN-USA

Filipino-Americans, under the banner of BAYAN-USA, are taking part in actions across the US and in Manila during the scheduled State of the Nation Address (SONA) in the Philippines to register strong condemnation and disappointment over the failure of the administration of Philippine President Benigno Simeon "P-Noy" Aquino III to facilitate significant changes to improve the lives of the burdened Filipino people after one year in office.

Citing continuing subservience to foreign dictates and a worsened economic situation as measures of the Aquino's failure to deliver upon promises made during the election and during last year's SONA, BAYAN-USA and its allies in the US remain adamantly unconvinced that the administration is genuinely for change.

Shameless US Puppetry

At the heart of Aquino's failure is unrelenting loyalty and puppetry to US foreign policy.

Within his first year, Aquino has willingly allowed the US to use the Philippines as its puppet state to take advantage of the regional territorial dispute over the Spratly Islands and provoke profit-making military aggression in Asia, and particularly against China.

As war and arms production has become the most profitable industry for the US ruling elite, the US government has in turn been able to rely strongly on the compliant Aquino administration to continue with a sugar-coated version of Arroyo's deadly Operation Plan Bantay Laya by implementing Operation Plan Bayanihan, per the US State Department's Counter-Insurgency Guide (US COIN). The objective of this counterinsurgency program is the same as it was for Arroyo’s administration and as utilized by repressive regimes worldwide: to suppress dissent and eliminate opposition using a combination of deceptive and increasingly violent tactics. The end result is the protection of imperialist economic and political interests at the expense of human lives.

The Poor Get Poorer Under Aquino

Under the thumb of US foreign dictates, Aquino has further pushed a neoliberal economic framework that has made life more miserable for the majority of the Filipino people. Landlord families, such as Aquino's, remain in control of the country's natural resources and push for privatization. Liberalization continues to hike up the prices of basic commodities such as food, gas, and water out of the reach of Filipino families. Contractualization hurts workers by decreasing wages, sowing job insecurity, and busting unions. Under Aquino, there are over 11 million unemployed Filipinos in the country with virtually zero job growth.

Privatization schemes such as the so-called Public-Private Partnership (PPP) not only serve to bulk up the pockets of wealthy and powerful multi-national corporate investors at the expense of ordinary Filipino citizens and workers. They also widen the gap between the few Filipino families that control the majority of the country's wealth and political power and the burdened majority who must pay from their own pockets for the risks of private investors. It is the impoverished majority who suffer the most from the Philippine state's abandonment of its public responsibilities.

Filipinos are left with no choice but to seek opportunities abroad, like in the United States. But in these desperate economic times, many Filipino workers fall prey to human trafficking schemes to the US.

Philippine Government: #1 Human Trafficker

The cases of the Sentosa 27 healthworkers, the Florida 15 hotel workers, and hundreds more similar cases of Filipinos duped into coming to the US under the auspices that they would have contract work waiting for them only to have their money taken, passports confiscated, and be left by their recruiters to fend for themselves as undocumented migrants are another clear measure of the Philippine government's failure to address the country's economic woes.

In addition, the Aquino government continues Arroyo's non-accountability to overseas Filipino workers in distress by not providing adequate social services and protection from abuse, maltreatment, and exploitation abroad.

Last Names Do Not a Great Leader Make

Though he was able to capitalize on his last name and the dirty record of his predecessor to win the election, it is clear that none of these things actually translated into making Aquino a great leader or any improvement to the state of the Philippine nation.

Like Obama, Aquino has proven that he is not much different than his predecessor, particularly with his human rights record. In one year of the Aquino presidency, 45 activists have been slain in politically-motivated killings, 5 have been victims of forced disappearance and over 300 political prisoners remain behind bars. The perpetrators of the 1,206 extra-judicial killings, more than 300 forced disappearances, and over 1,000 cases of torture committed under the previous administration of President Gloria Arroyo remain at-large, including those guilty of abducting and torturing renowned Filipina American poet, artist, and BAYAN USA member Melissa Roxas.

As Aquino delivers his formal State of the Nation Address (SONA) to the Philippine Congress today, Filipino-Americans will be amongst those who refused to be deceived and who understand that real change can only come from ordinary people in collective struggle, not from individual politicians with famous last names. ###
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BAYAN-USA is an alliance of 14 progressive Filipino organizations in the U.S. representing youth, students, women, workers, artists, and human rights advocates. As the oldest and largest overseas chapter of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN-Philippines), BAYAN-USA serves as an information bureau for the national democratic movement of the Philippines and as a campaign center for anti-imperialist Filipinos in the U.S. For more information, visit www.bayanusa.org

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The Illusion of Aquino’s Tuwid na Daan– BAYAN Canada
Posted on 24 July 2011 by admin

BAYAN CANADA
June 24, 2011
Reference: Joey Calugay
bayan.canada.noc@gmail.com

After one year in office, President Benigno Aquino III has not improved the lives of the Filipino people. His promise of “Tuwid na Daan” (straight path) is nothing but the crooked and edgy path for the Filipino people to tread on. His campaign promises during his first State of the Nation Address (SONA) have become illusions for the majority of the people.

Misguided by the illusion of popularity, the Aquino administration refuses to address the chronic problems of the country. These are the rampant unemployment and poverty, inadequate social services, continuing human rights violations committed with impunity, landlessness, continuing rise in the prices of basic commodities, uncontrollable prices of gasoline and petroleum products, and destruction of the environment.

These problems, further encouraged by the government’s labour export policy, continue to drive many Filipinos to leave the country to work abroad. At least 4000 men and women leave the airports everyday to work overseas; there are 10 million Filipinos working in 196 countries and territories.

If President Aquino is sincere in keeping his promises, he needs to concretely act on these. In the socio-economic front, instead of taking the neoliberal economic path, he and his economic managers must take the path to national industrialization and genuine land reform. Instead of dole-outs and short-term socio-economic programs like “Pantawid Pasada” (gas subsidy to drivers) and conditional cash transfer (CCT), the Aquino administration must undertake long-term socio-economic measures that will bring lasting, not temporary, relief to the people’s suffering. The Aquino administration needs to look beyond economic rhetoric and failed policies of the past regimes.

Like his predecessor the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo regime, President “Noynoy” Aquino has opened the country to foreign capital and investments. President Aquino has aggressively attracted foreign investors and has placed little or no restrictions to their operations. In particular, we refer to Canadian mining companies that operate in the Philippines which have not complied with genuine, free, prior and informed consent from the indigenous peoples and which have put profits before environmental destruction and displacement of peasant and indigenous communities.

Fighting corruption is empty rhetoric when President Noynoy Aquino has shown no urgency in prosecuting Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her cohorts for their graft and corruption, as well as the extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances of those who advocate for social change. Declaring that the Filipino People is the President’s “Boss” carries no weight when the same President also wages an all out war against the people with the US-inspired state counterinsurgency plan Oplan Bayanihan.President “Noynoy” Aquino cannot profess to be for peace until he orders the general, unconditional and omnibus amnesty of all political prisoners.

The first year of President Aquino has therefore been found wanting. The state of the nation, the state of the people has only gone from bad to worse.

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Media Release
24 July 2011

For second SONA
Workers give Noynoy failing grade, ‘singko’

“We give him a grade of '5,' bagsak. After more than a year, it is more than clear: The change and daang matuwid which Aquino promised are not for the hungry workers and people, but for the oil cartel, big foreign and local capitalists and the Kamag-anak, Inc.”

This was the statement of labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno as it gave Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III a failing grade for his performance a day before his second State of the Nation Address.

“The Aquino administration cannot boast of anything that it was able to do to address, let alone alleviate, the worsening poverty and hunger in the country. It has not innovated on the anti-worker and anti-people policies of the Arroyo regime, but merely carried these out," said Lito Ustarez, KMU vice-chairperson.

"The Aquino regime allowed the overpricing and the almost weekly increases in oil prices, satisfying the oil cartel’s greed for profits. It rejected the people’s demand of scrapping VAT on oil products as an immediate relief to the skyrocketing oil prices,” he said.

“Amidst the increasing prices of basic goods and services and despite the fact that the minimum wage has sunk to less than half of a family’s daily cost of living, Aquino did not heed the workers' and people’s call for a significant wage hike. He chose to side with big foreign and local capitalists in pressing down wages,” he added.

“The regime is making public service even more inaccessible to the people. It hiked toll fees last January and is bent on hiking fares in the MRT and LRT. EPIRA, which only caused rising electricity cost, was even extended. It continued to cut budgets for education and other social services,” added Ustarez.

KMU also blasted Aquino for not implementing programs that would develop national industries and break the long-standing land monopoly in the country.

“Instead of implementing national industrialization, he continued the country's dependence on foreign investments for job creation. He also intensified the labor-export policy despite the dangers it poses to migrant Filipino workers,” said Ustarez.

“His silence on the Supreme Court ruling on Hacienda Luisita only affirms our belief that he is using his power to preserve his family’s ownership of Luisita. It is also a clear proof that genuine agrarian reform -- which is sure to generate employment in the country -- is impossible under the Aquino regime,” said Ustarez.

“It is simply not true that it is still too early for us to judge the Aquino regime. His outright rejection of the demands of the Filipino workers and people for immediate relief to hunger and suffering is already telling. We are expecting things to get worse in the coming years under his anti-worker and anti-people economic policies,” said Ustarez.

Reference: Lito Ustarez, KMU vice-chairperson, 0908-6491992

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Aquino’s only employment-related promise in 2010 SONA, unfulfilled – KMU

One week before Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s second State of the Nation Addresss, labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno slammed the president for failing to deliver on his only employment-related promise in his last year’s SONA, that of generating employment.

Enumerating measures intended to attract foreign and local investors, Pres. Aquino in his 2010 SONA said “Paalala lang po: una nating plataporma ang paglikha ng mga trabaho, at nanggagaling ang trabaho sa paglago ng industriya.”

The National Statistics Office’s latest Labor Force Survey for April 2011 shows that unemployment was only reduced by a meager 0.8% from April of last year. A Social Weather Stations survey conducted last March shows a massive 1.4 million increase in adult unemployment in just four months.

“Almost one year after, Pres. Aquino has failed to generate employment, his only employment-specific promise in his 2010 SONA. This is his only promise that speaks directly to our advocacies on wages, employment and trade-union rights, yet he has failed to fulfill it. Wala talagang maaasahan ang mga manggagawa at maralita kay Noynoy (Workers and poor people really have nothing good to expect from Aquino),” said Roger Soluta, KMU secretary-general.

In his first Labor Day speech, Pres. Aquino promised to generate one million jobs through the Community-Based Employment Program or CBEP. It turns out that almost half of that target will be jobs in the construction industry, which will end promptly once projects are finished.

“The jobs which Pres. Aquino intended to generate are low-paying and temporary. What poor people need and demand are jobs that provide a living wage and are stable,” Soluta added.

Ineffective job creation framework

KMU criticized the Aquino government’s framework for employment generation – that of attracting foreign and local investors.

“To attract foreign investors, the Aquino regime has refused to significantly hike wages despite the soaring prices of basic goods and services, has affirmed the contractualization of work forces and has repressed trade-union rights. Such moves have only made jobs in the country low-paying and low-quality ones,” Soluta said.

“Despite pressing down workers’ wages and benefits and repressing trade-union rights, the Aquino regime has failed to generate employment. It is foolish in persisting with the framework of attracting investors to create jobs, which has already been proven ineffective by the experience of previous regimes,” he added.

“Only a pro-people and government-led development of the country’s basic industries and a genuine agrarian reform program can generate stable jobs with living wages for Filipinos. Yet the Aquino regime has refused to listen to advocates of these pro-people reforms,” he said.

Reference Person: Roger Soluta, KMU secretary-general
Campaign: Kabuhayan at Katarungang Panlipunan, Ipaglaban!
Contact information: 0928-7215313

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Down by 3.1% in 2012 budget , Social services not a priority under Aquino – KMU

Labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno denounced the further reduction of the budget alloted to social services under Pres. Aquino’s 2012 national budget, saying it highlights the fact that the social services are not a priority for the current government.

According to the group, last year’s 34.1% share was insufficient in addressing the people’s needs. More public hospitals were shut down if not privatized. Budget cuts on state colleges and universities resulted in higher fees for incoming students.

On his 2nd national budget deliberations, President Aquino carried on with the trend by further reducing the budget for social services to 31%.

Though the proposed national budget for 2012 increased to P1.816 trillion from P1.645 trillion, the additions were not made to subsidize state-owned schools, universities and hospitals and other public service institutions.

“The improvement and expansion of social services such as health and education are clearly not a priority of the Aquino government. It is merely continuing the state’s abandonment of its responsibility to subsidize social services under the Gloria Arroyo government,” said Lito Ustarez, KMU vice-chairperson.

“The Aquino government likes to project itself as pro-people, yet it fails in the most basic task of a pro-people government: that of prioritizing social services. The national budget is the most concrete proof of the government’s priorities, and it is clearly not prioritizing social services,” he added.

Inclusion of CCT hit

KMU also condemned the revelation made by budget secretary Florencio Abad that 31% of the proposed 2012 allocation for social services already include the budget for the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino program, the backbone of the Conditional Cash Transfer program, saying this may imply that the budget for the social services is even smaller than this year’s P521.4 billion.

“Instead of increasing subsidies for social services, the Aquino regime is bent on giving out meager dole-outs to poor families. These dole-outs will not even allow poor families to avail of privately-provided social services which will take the place of state-provided ones,” Ustarez said.

“The inclusion of the CCT in the budget for social services is a deceitful sleight-of-hand to make it appear that subsidy for social services has been increased. It is also a cruel anti-people measure, which gives the people less than what we deserve to get from the government,” he added.

Reference Person: Lito Ustarez, KMU vice chairperson
Campaign: Kabuhayan at Katarungang Panlipunan, Ipaglaban!
Contact information: 0908-6491992

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Despite known dangers, Aquino stepped up labor export instead of creating decent jobs at home – KMU

“Despite known dangers for migrants, Pres. Aquino even stepped up the government’s labor-export policy. It is clear that he does not have a long-term program to create decent jobs in the country. His government is deepening the country’s dependence on foreign investment to generate employment.”

This was the statement of labor center Kilusang Mayo Uno, eight days before Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III’s State of the Nation Address, slamming the president for intensifying past administrations’ labor-export policy while remaining negligent of the worsening plight of the country’s migrant workers.

According to independent NGO Center for Trade Union and Human Rights, the number of Filipinos going abroad to seek employment increased from 3,500 everyday in 2009 to 4,413 in 2010, with the number of OFWs reaching 15 million in 2011.

“The Aquino government remains a proud pimp of the country’s workforce, subsisting on OFW remittances. Instead of taking concrete steps to provide decent employment in the country, the Aquino government is making the Filipino workers go from poverty and unemployment to danger,” said Lito Ustarez, KMU vice-chairperson.

“After pushing them to face dangers abroad, OFWs are ignored by the Aquino government. Instead of providing them services and assistance, the so-called modern-day heroes and the saviors of the country’s dwindling economy are treated as rubbish by the Aquino regime,” added Ustarez.

KMU enumerated cases of the Aquino government’s negligence towards the Filipino migrant workers:

>> The increasing number of OFWs in death row in other countries, from 108 to 122, according to Migrante International who are not suffiiciently being aided by the government.

>> The late and sluggish evacuation and repatriation of tens of thousands OFWs who were caught in violence-stricken Libya and other countries in the Middle East and North Africa, and the successive tragedies in Japan.

>> Seeking other labor markets like the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait for the 20,000 Filipino maids who were banned in Saudi Arabia.

>> The slow response to and attempt to downplay the “Saudization” policy of Saudi Arabia which would terminate around 180,000 OFWs.

Reference Person: Lito Ustarez, KMU vice-chairperson
Campaign: Kabuhayan at Katarungang Panlipunan, Ipaglaban!
Contact information: 0908-6491992

The streamers were placed there early in the morning. Then 2 squads of PNP police units marched up the bridge and stood guard while the rallyists held their program.. This is at the footbridge on Commonwealth Avenue in front of St. Peter's Church