“The World Bank and the IMF bear major responsibility for the widespread poverty in the Philippines through its imposition of onerous loan conditionalities and so-called development programs that resulted in higher prices, stagnant wages, union busting, cuts in social spending, higher regressive taxes, and displacement of farmers and indigenous peoples,” said Raymond Palatino, Bayan secretary general.
El Caracazo in 1989 and the current Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela show that resistance to imperialist plunder and mass immiseration and murder of the people through the IMF-WB and the whole neoliberal project is possible and the absolute right and duty of the people.
By Carol Pagaduan-Araullo Streetwise | BusinessWorld It is often said that Filipinos, as a general rule, have “short”or “poor” memories. The allusion is not to some racial genetic predisposition to be forgetful. What media commentators and the homegrown Pilosopong Tasyo among us refer to is the Filipinos’ seeming lack of a sense of history or…
By Satur C. Ocampo At Ground Level | The Philippine Star In my last two columns I wrote about the call of US billionaire-investor Warren Buffet to tax the rich more, and about efforts to create more jobs in the United States by reviving manufacturing that uses advanced technology. Acceding to readers’ requests, I try…
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Bulatlat.com Two significant events that define the country’s sovereignty, or the lack of it, mark this year: the 60th anniversary of the US-RP Mutual Defense Treaty, and the 20th year of the removal of the US military bases in the country. Thus, it has been 60 years since the country surrendered its…
It seems that the Aquino government would rather let the Filipino people suffer than lean on oil companies to “moderate their greed.” It is more scared of facing the wrath of the IMF-WB than the Filipino people. Perhaps, it is banking on its popularity and relying on its apologists-allies who are already in government but still stake their claim to being part of civil society. (By Benjie Oliveros / bulatlat.com)
Nothing much is being said about the agenda and the developments in the talks. This is most unfortunate because what is being negotiated are important matters that could affect not only the peace talks but the future of the Filipino people. And the Filipino people’s inputs and involvement in the talks are not only desirable but essential. By BENJIE OLIVEROS / bulatlat.com
Bulatlat.com “The new $434-M compact grant given to the Philippines by the US government-sponsored Millennium Change Corporation (MCC) is nothing but a carrot stick to further Washington’s greater inroads into the Philippine economy under President Aquino,” said Terry Ridon, national chairperson of the League of Filipino Students (LFS), in reaction to the reported elation of…
As Europe frantically shores up an unravelling economic system, popular protests are erupting against adjustments made to placate the finance markets. Austerity measures and bailouts may keep the banks happy, but what about the people? By ANNA WHITE Share the World’s Resources/CommonDreams.org International Posted by Bulatlat.com The inherent instability of the current financial system, largely…
The administration’s Team Unity and the Genuine Opposition, the two main contending forces in this year’s senatorial elections, have been exchanging challenges to a debate for the past few weeks. While both sides have agreed on a possible venue for the debate, they have not agreed on what issues to debate about. BY ALEXANDER MARTIN…
Nobel Peace Prize Winner Most Rev. Desmond Tutu, Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa, is one of the several supporters of the 2nd Session on the Philippines of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) – where the Arroyo regime, the U.S. government, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank (IMF-WB), the World Trade Organization…