Bulatlat - The Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine

This story was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. VI, No. 3, February 19-25, 2006

Analysis

Promises, Promises

Every year as we commemorate the anniversary of EDSA 1, we look at where we are now and what has happened through the years. We seem to get the same answers every year that the promises of EDSA 1 have remained unfulfilled. We have the same worsening problems. But these recurring and worsening problems do not disprove the need for change. These prove the necessity of fundamental change.

By BENJIE OLIVEROS
Bulatlat

Every year as we commemorate the anniversary of EDSA 1, we look at where we are now and what has happened through the years. We seem to get the same answers every year that the promises of EDSA 1 have remained unfulfilled. In spite of this, the assessment of our current situation measured in terms of the promises of EDSA 1 assumes greater significance this year.

For one, we are commemorating twenty years of EDSA 1 or People Power 1 (PP1). Two decades is a long time and if the right changes were instituted, it could have borne fruit by now. The excuse of past and current administrations that changes take a long time to materialize and that the Filipino people must exercise patience and look forward to the future, which promises prosperity, no longer holds water.

Second, we are in the midst of another potential social upheaval. Another people power uprising seems to be in the offing especially if President Arroyo refuses to step down. How are we sure that we won’t be worse off in the future?

Former President Ferdinand E. Marcos was blamed for imposing dictatorial rule, committing gross violations of human rights, mismanaging the economy, and corruption. The People Power 1 was inspired by the Filipino people’s desire to remove such evils.

How did we fare so far?

Marcos lorded it over the country when we fell deeply in debt. He left the country with a $27 billion foreign debt. But even after Marcos, the country has sunk deeper into debt. The Philippines has been allocating a substantial portion of its budget to the payment of debt. And yet the country’s foreign debt has more than doubled to around $56.047 billion last year. The Arroyo administration is hell-bent on borrowing more with its propensity for issuing treasury bonds and its fetish for credit ratings.

In 1971, the exchange rate is P6.40 to a U.S. dollar. During the last year of Marcos’ rule in 1985, the peso-dollar exchange rate was almost double at $1:P12.55. It has steadily increased to around P25 to a dollar before it shot up to the vicinity of P40 to a dollar in the aftermath of the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Currently, the Philippine peso is down to between P51-52 to a U.S. dollar.

Average GDP growth rate from 1972-85 was 3.43 percent. GDP growth rates from 2001 are within the 4 percent range, with the exception of 2004, an election year.

Unemployment was at 12.55 percent in 1985. Actual unemployment is at 11.4 percent in 2005. The 11.4 percent registered in 2005 does not include the underemployed at 21 percent. An Ibon Foundation paper entitled “From Bad to Worse” written by Sonny Africa stated that the combined unemployment and underemployment rates in 2005 is the worst since 1987. According to the same paper, the last five years is also the worst sustained unemployment rate of any administration in the country.

These current rates do not even take into account the eight to nine million Filipinos who have sought employment abroad for lack of opportunities locally. While Marcos started the labor export policy, the economy has never been so reliant on remittances of overseas Filipino contract workers as it is today.

Official statistics show a poverty incidence of around 40 percent in 1985. The NSCB put the poverty incidence at 24.3 percent in 2005. But this is based on a very low P33.60 ($.60) per day poverty level, which everybody knows is not even enough to provide a person with three meals a day. Poverty afflicts around 90% of Filipinos who live on $3 a day.

The country had three national elections during the post-Martial Law period. But among the three presidents namely, Fidel Ramos, Joseph Estrada, and Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, only Estrada won convincingly. The other two presidents won by slim margins and were accused of electoral fraud. The term “dagdag-bawas” (add-subtract), referring to the practice of shaving off votes from a candidate and adding to another, was a product of post-Martial Law elections.

Charges of corruption haunted every administration. The Aquino administration was accused of having the “Kamag-anak (Relatives) Incorporated”. The Ramos administration had the “expo scam” and the anomalous power contracts. Estrada was accused of having secret accounts in the name of Jose Velarde. And the Arroyo administration is accused of so many scandals such as the Jose Pidal account, the Macapagal Boulevard, the Piatco Airport terminal contract, fertilizer scam, among others.

Ramos tried to perpetuate himself, accumulate power, and constrict civil liberties through Charter Change, the National ID system, and the Anti-Terrorism Bill. Arroyo is also trying to do the same. Worse, the Arroyo administration is constricting the freedom of expression and assembly through its “calibrated pre-emptive response” policy. It also violates the freedom of information through Executive Order 464, which prohibits government employees and officials from testifying in congressional inquiries.

Martial Law was still the worst in terms of violations of human rights. But the Aquino administration’s “total war” policy caused the formation of vigilante groups and the displacement of millions of peasants. Ramos militarized the bureaucracy. Estrada launched “total war” against the Bangsa Moro people. And the Arroyo administration violates human rights with impunity through systematic political killings and attacks on legal organizations. The human rights record of the Arroyo administration is the worst after Martial Law.

The perpetuation and worsening of the problems that EDSA 1 set out to eliminate, however, do not prove the futility of people power uprisings. These show that people power uprisings are not enough. It will take more than replacing the people in government.

These recurring and worsening problems do not disprove the need for change. But these prove the necessity of fundamental change.

The Filipino people cannot simply act to replace the current administration then go on with their lives. The Filipino people must participate in determining the direction, system, structure, and processes of government.

The future leaders of government cannot simply continue with the same economic policies and program. It must gear the economy towards the needs of the country and its people.

The Filipino people cannot wait for the “trickle down effect” of mainstream economic programs. It must demand that the goals and direction of future economic programs and policies be geared primarily towards the betterment of their quality of life and the development of the nation over that of increasing foreign and local corporate profits.

The Filipino people cannot wait for their rights to be granted and taken away by those in government. The people must struggle for their rights, fight for national patrimony and democracy, genuinely participate in governance, and effect fundamental change. Bulatlat

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