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When asked what single legislation can be drafted to
redirect all dimensions of Philippine affairs and give relief to our
people, London School of Economics-trained researcher Jose Enrique
Africa replied, a law that will make bureaucrats criminally liable
for any action neglectful of and threatening to the people’s
civil, political, economic and social development rights.
This thought comes to mind as
Filipinos brace for a barrage of political shows—speeches, press
releases and protest actions—for Pres. Gloria Arroyo’s State of
the Nation’s Address (SONA).
Why, even the apolitical nurses
are also going to have their own SONA, except that this will be
their State of the Nurses Address at 10 a.m. on Monday, just hours
before Mrs. Arroyo delivers hers in Congress.
It riles the nurses that it has
been six years since Republic Act 9173 was passed, yet its
guarantees to give nurses Salary Grade 15 (or P16,093 per month) is
hardly implemented, and thousands of nurses are driven by
desperation to seek employment abroad, and risk exploitation,
discrimination and criminal prosecution for asserting their right to
decent pay.
RA 9173 is one of thousands of
laws that benefit the poor but have not been implemented by a
government whose bad reputation is largely caused by its outright
neglect of the people, its non-implementation of laws that would
have given the poor relief and succour and its “appalling” and
“dismal” human rights record.
All these thoughts bear heavily
on my mind as Mrs. Arroyo faces friends and foes in Congress on
Monday, and as Filipinos brace themselves for crises after crises
after crises.
Consider: The inflation rate has
gone up to a record high 11.4 percent in a matter of months, shot up
by speculation on the unceasing rise of the international and
domestic prices of food and oil, among others. From 2000 to the
present, incomes in nominal terms has increased by 19 percent, but
the increase is outpaced by a 38 percent increase in prices. Average
real savings declined by 27 percent with the continuing erosion of
the peso, indicating potential crisis for every Filipino.
The country sits atop a social
volcano. Severe income disparity is felt, with the bottom 70 percent
of all families accounting for only 35 percent of the country’s
income pie, much less than the 47.2 percent in 2003. The top 30
percent accounted for 70 percent, higher than the 2003 figures,
significantly eating a chunk of the small portion of meat shared by
the poor.
To add insult to injury, the 2006
figures are pegged at a poverty threshold of P41.25 per person per
day, a ridiculous figure since a person needs much more than this
amount to secure the minimum needs for a day. And yet, at this
figure, 4.7 million families or more than 27.6 million individuals
are already below the poverty line.
Can populist yearly measures such
as the P500 power rate subsidy and the allowances given to a few
hundreds of families be effective in stemming the crises?
Specialists have pointed out that these subsidies are not
sustainable, fed only by a hated expanded value added tax. If E-VAT
is removed instead, the economic stimulation would have produced far
better benefits, rather than consistently depress investments and
trigger more inflation, across economic sectors.
The gross domestic product has
grown to 7.3 percent, but according to the Freedom from Debt
Coalition, this was largely a debt-driven, unsustainable rise in
infrastructure projects. They also provide more opportunities for
leakages to private pockets in a corruption-ridden government where
foreign assistance does not form part of the regular budget and is
hardly audited.
As Mrs. Arroyo faces the last 24
months of her term, certain challenges are posed before her to stem
the nefarious effects of her policy failures.
There is more pressing need ever
to draft and implement pro-people policies that genuinely transfer
resources, not simply dole-outs, to people. Think of agrarian reform
that distributes land and ensures a full package of support measures
to the landless. Think of breaking down the rice cartel to ensure
fair trading and fair distribution of rice and food stuff to the
hungry, as should be the case in a crisis-wracked country. Think of
price controls to stem profiteering and guarantee economic justice.
Think of financing the start-up
of cooperatives and small enterprises to provide necessities, jobs
and services to people, rather than encourage big foreign
investments that gobble up local capital and only repatriate profits
back to mother companies and countries.
Think of pursuing new areas of
economic development, like exploring environmental projects. Think
of pursuing renewable energy alternatives to lessen oil
addiction—operating hydroelectric power plants is even cheaper
than importing oil. While wind energy is expensive at start-up, it
guarantees zero percent oil importation for years to come.
The country’s technical experts
and nationalist scientists guarantee that all these packages are
doable and implementable, and Filipino creativity and innovation can
be called upon to redesign technologies to adapt them to our needs.
Dialogue is a requirement of
development, as even rebels have a stake in our land. In this area,
Mrs. Arroyo will have to discipline her armed minions responsible
for 910 extrajudicial killings and more than 200 disappearances
since 2001.
An alternative socio-economic
order stares Mrs. Arroyo in the face. She only has to commit to turn
around from the economic liberalization she guaranteed without
appropriate safety nets, resolve corruption and check political
stringencies that weake her governance.
ngamolo@manilatimes.net
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