BY BULATLAT
The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan-New Patriotic Alliance) slammed the Arroyo administration’s ‘beggar mentality.’
The group was referring to the announcement of Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that the World Bank pledged $10 billion to a standby facility for members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The World Bank (WB) denied making such commitment.
The multisectoral alliance said that the WB denial exposed the lack of a ‘reliable program of the Arroyo administration to protect the people and the economy from the fallout of the financial crisis.’
Dr. Carol Pagaduan-Araullo, Bayan chairperson said, “Ms Arroyo is already counting the chicks even before the eggs are hatched, so to speak. She immediately wanted to take credit for the multibillion dollar debt commitment from the multilateral institutions that her economic managers have supposedly secured. It shows the beggar mentality of this administration which readily turns to its foreign patrons in every fix it finds itself in.”
National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) chief Ralph Recto later clarified that the $10 billion will come from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and not the World Bank.
Araullo, however, said even if the World Bank or the IMF did commit to the standby facility for members of the ASEAN, it does not assure the protection of ordinary income earners as well as small businesseses that will be hit hard by the financial crunch. “Resources from the standby facility will not even go directly to the poor but will only be used to protect local and foreign banks in Southeast Asia,” said Araullo.
She said that based on the track record of these lending institutions, there is ‘no hope that their intervention could truly help in protecting the vulnerable sectors from the harsh effects of the global crisis but on the contrary will even aggravate their plight.’
Araullo cited a 1987 study conducted by the United Nations covering 55 countries including the Philippines which showed that the poverty situation in these countries worsened after applying policy conditionalities imposed by the IMF-World Bank.
The Bayan leader said foreign assistance would only mean more foreign debt that will ultimately be shouldered by the people through more and higher taxes and less funds for social services.
The group said ordinary Filipinos do not need a foreign funded-standby facility but economic relief measures such as the cancellation of the 12 percent value added tax (VAT) on oil and a one-time substantial oil price rollback. (Bulatlat.com)
