Oust Gloria Arroyo: Bishop Move, Checkmate?

Gloria must go: CBCP head
Says Arroyo hopelessly corrupt

Malaya 10/29/2008 BY GERARD NAVAL

ARCHBISHOP Angel Lagdameo yesterday called on Filipinos to start preparing for a new government, citing the need for transformation amid rampant state corruption.

Reading a prepared statement at a press conference, the Jaro (Iloilo) bishop said there is a real need to have a new government as the current one has been severely stricken by the "social and moral cancer" that is corruption.

"In response to the global economic crisis and the pitiful state of our country, the time to rebuild our country economically, socially, politically is now. The time to start radical reforms is now. The time for moral regeneration is now. The time to conquer complacency, cynicism and apathy and to prove that we have matured from our political disappointments is now. The time to prepare a new government is now," he said.

Asked if his statement is tantamount to calling for a public uprising to force President Arroyo to step down, Lagdameo said it is up to the people to decide what course of action to take.

"Kailangan ang taong bayan ay magsama-sama kung paano sila mag-response together dun sa sulat namin na sinabi naming communal discernment and communal action," he said in an interview.

Lagdameo clarified he was making the statement as a bishop and not as president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines.

During the press conference, he was flanked by four other prelates — Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, and Bishops Joel Baylon (Masbate) and Socrates Villegas (Balanga), and Bishop emeritus Jose Sorra.

Lagdameo said the presence of the four signifies their concurrence to his statement which he said was spurred by a letter sent to him by the Association of Major Religious Superiors in the Philippines.

The AMRSP letter said: "At this time when people are losing hope and are becoming cynical and apathetic, a prophetic word from you will be like a Pentecost event, a rekindling of hope and an inspiration and impetus to take active part on social transformation."

Lagdameo said corruption has been continuously growing despite repeated condemnation by the Catholic Church and calls for widespread reform.

"In the past few years up to today, we have watched how corruption has become endemic, massive, systemic and rampant in our politics. The faces and symptoms of corruption are overprized projects, multi-billion scams of various kinds, election manipulations, anomalous transactions, bribery of both high and low, unsolved murders of media practitioners. Corruption is a social and moral cancer," Lagdameo said.

He noted there have been at least three CBCP statements denouncing corruption.

Lagdameo said he believes Arroyo is a corrupt leader and has done little in preparing for a new government that could make a transition away from a corrupt one.

In his statement, Lagdameo said corruption is the reason the country could not get out of the quagmire it is in.

"Corruption impedes economic development, worsens income inequity and poverty, endangers public order and safety. Corruption results in bureaucratic inefficiency and demoralization," Lagdameo said.

The bishops said they are hopeful new leaders will emerge in the process of "liberating" the country from the claws of corruption.

"In spite of the seemingly hopeless and negative prognosis, our liberation may yet serendipitously happen. We are dreaming, praying and hoping that our country may yet have the liberators. Yes, liberators who will, in a courageous peaceful way, effectively and uncompromisingly reform our country," they said in the statement.

Cruz said corruption under the Arroyo administration is something that cannot be dealt with by the human justice system alone.

"Corruption in such an extensive degree in the Philippines is a crime that cries to heaven for vengeance. Corruption in this country has become endemic, systemic, from top to bottom in government. Perhaps they may be given the punishment they deserve by the human justice system, but that’s not enough. Someone else in the Higher Authority will punish them as they deserve," said Cruz, former CBCP president.

The known Arroyo critic said it was not too long ago when the President received the "distinction" of being the most corrupt president in the country’s history.

"Though our country is at the 11th place of the most corrupt from the bottom, we even have a gold medalist of corruption in our national leader. To say that the Malacañang occupant is a follower of corruption and not a leader in corruption is already asking too much. Perhaps, if this is said, it will take someone from the moon to believe that the head of corruption is down below and not above," Cruz said.

Press Secretary Jesus Dureza pooh-poohed the4 statements. He said: "The President prefers to focus on her work rather than waste time on criticism and statements of critics like the reported claim of Lingayen Archbishop Oscar Cruz that President Arroyo is corrupt."

"We will continue to focus on our work for the poor and address a bigger issue which is addressing this global crisis. It is up to them to make (such statements). The priority of the President and the government now is to attend to the bigger issue which will be determinative of our future as a nation," he said.

Villegas said they are hoping their statement will continuously bother the public.

"We are not here to bring you peace. We are here to disturb you. I’m praying to God that after this meeting, may the Lord trouble you because the trouble that comes from the Lord is going to make you a better person and it’s going to make the country a better country," said the protégé of Cardinal Jaime Sin, archbishop of Manila.

Villegas said that with the current state of the government, there must be very drastic and dramatic actions from each and every one.

"If we have been only half less corrupt, we would have more money to feed our children, more money to put up schools, more money to bring medicines to hospitals. The problem is not population. The problem is corruption. Just cut the corruption in half and we would have enough money to take care of the poor," Villegas said. – With Jocelyn Montemayor

GMA regime: Joblessness, Family Incomes Worst In Last 7 Years

Heads of state labor leaders and academics will hear Gloria Arroyo’s voodoo economics at Davos World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. The OFW $ 13 B annual remittances have nothing to do with GMA economic plan. About 1 million workers leave the country yearly for jobs abroad.

President Gloria Arroyo’s seven years in office has brought record levels of joblessness as well as falling family incomes, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation. According to IBON research head Sonny Africa, historical levels of joblessness were registered under the Arroyo administration since 2001. In 2007, there were 4.1 million jobless Filipinos and an annual average unemployment rate of 10.8 percent. Although 2007 figures were a slight improvement from 2006, the average annual unemployment rate of 11.3% over the 2001-2007 period remains the worst such period recorded in the country’s history, Africa said.
IBON Media

Arroyo Likely To Impose New Taxes To Avert Fiscal Crisis

Sta. Ana coordinates Action for Economic Reforms. This article was published in the Opinion Section, Yellow Pad Column of BusinessWorld, July 2, 2007 edition, page S1/4.

How do you solve a problem like the BIR?

Remember the Beatles’s song titled Taxman? Even though we, like the Beatles, hate taxes and the tax collector, it is to our interest to make the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) efficient.

For the ordinary people, the BIR’s enhanced revenue collection can translate into more and better provision of public goods. Over the years, under Mrs. Arroyo’s administration, per capita spending or real spending for basic services—education, health, infrastructure, and others—has declined.

The budget for basic education has been below 1.5 percent of GDP since 2001. Health spending has been below 0.5 percent of GDP. Infrastructure spending since 2003 has been below one percent of GDP (0.73 percent in 2006, according to the Department of Budget and Management). As a ratio of GDP, infrastructure spending in poor Laos is bigger. All these expenditure figures are way below the international benchmarks. All these expenditure figures are way below the international benchmarks.

The fiscal deficit has significantly narrowed. In fact, the budget has a primary surplus. But it exacted a high price, for government, aside from increasing taxes, cut productive spending.

The passage of new taxes should result in a better fiscal picture without sacrificing government spending. Both the increase in the rate of the value-added tax and the adjusted excise tax on sin products have contributed to the fiscal turnaround. Taxes have increased, but collection is below the avowed goals or targets.

‘Employment’ Up, but Little Gainful Work

Arroyo’s Six-Year Record Shows Highest Debt, Lowest Cost In Social Services

Arroyo’s Six-Year Record Shows Highest Debt, Lowest Cost In Social Services
Written by IBON Media
Wednesday, 28 March 2007
In her response to a survey that found the Philippines to be the most corrupt economy in Asia, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo claimed that the country’s negative image was an offshoot of tough decisions she made to turn the country around, such as the implementation of tax reforms like the RVAT.
But an examination of her six-year record in office showed that her government actually brought the country to its worst-ever fiscal crisis, according to independent think-tank IBON Foundation.
IBON research head Sonny Africa pointed out that total national government debt stands at P3.914 trillion as of October 2006, while total public sector debt (including debt of government corporations and other government entities) approaches P6 trillion, equivalent to some 110% of the gross domestic product. Africa added that these figures do not yet include contingent liabilities (or government-guaranteed debt) of P552.7 billion as of September 2006. The Arroyo government is the most indebted government in Philippine history, as well as among the most heavily indebted in East Asia.
Hence, total debt service allocations in the national budget have increased 186% from P274 billion in 2001 to P784 billion in just the first eleven months of last year, Africa said. In real terms (taking inflation and population growth into account), he added, every Filipino now owes the country’s creditors some P9,015.
Thus, Africa said that it should not be surprising that Arroyo was forced to implement the RVAT, the most regressive tax of all, which generated P76.9 billion in net revenues last year, mostly taken from the pockets of ordinary consumers.
But he added that Arroyo failed to point out that she also made drastic cuts in allocations for social services to make these high and rising debt payments. Real spending per capita on education of P1,506 in 2006 is 22% lower than in 2001, on health of a measly P159 is 25% lower, and on social security, welfare and employment of P532 is 9% lower, he said.
Government’s neglect of education, coupled with worsening economic and social conditions, means that millions of children are unable to obtain a decent schooling. Out of every 100 children who enter Grade 1, only 66% will finish elementary school, 43% high school and only 14% will graduate from college.
Further, in 2006 some 2.5 million children aged 5 to 17 were working either to augment family income or merely to survive. Over three-fourths of these children were working as laborers and unskilled workers in psychologically and physically hazardous conditions.
No amount of hype about economic gains can hide the worsening state of the people’s welfare under the Arroyo administation, Africa said.

Economy Not Improving, IBON Belies Arroyo's Economic ‘Gains’

Gloria Arroyo's RP Economic Wonder?

Gloria Arroyo is day dreaming in her Enchanted Kingdom.The recent hostage drama in Manila reflects the true state of the nation. Malacanang Palace wants s to paint a rosy picture of the Philippines. Gloria Arroyo has zero credibility. Nobody is buying her twisted economic gains.

RP outpaced in growth by Vietnam, Bangladesh during GMA watch

By Alejandro Lichauco

ANALYSIS

03/29/2007

In September last year, the World Bank issued a warning note calling attention that the Philippines “lags behind Asia anew.” (See story WB warns RP lags behind Asia anew, in business section of Tribune, Sept. 13, 2006). The story quotes a “top official” of the World Bank who “expressed amazement at how Vietnam, which once lagged behind the Philippines, had shown remarkable success” in reducing its poverty rate by half in the space of a decade.

Two years earlier, in 2004, a major broadsheet headlined that the IMF pointed to Bangladesh growing faster than the Philippines. (See Bangladesh to grow faster than RP-IMF, Today, April 23, 2004).

About a decade ago, mention Bangladesh and Vietnam and you conjure up images of poverty-stricken people. Today, that, apparently, isn’t so anymore. At the very least, you don’t hear of hunger in those two countries. In the Philippines, rising hunger is now official acknowledged fact. The poverty problem here has mutated into a problem of outright hunger — alarming enough to have prodded Malacañang into announcing that it was allocating P1 billion to finance an anti-hunger program.

The IMF and the World Bank aren’t alone in issuing these embarrassingly dire assessment of the Philippine situation during the watch of GMA. As far back as 2002, a United Nations agency, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, noted the Philippines was the “laggard in Southeast Asia.” (See story UN sees RP as laggard in Southeast Asia, Malaya, April 27, 2002.)

Apparently, the comparative performance of the Philippines hasn’t improved since the UN assessment was made five years ago.

Truth is, the hunger situation here is much worse than what even the poll surveys show. In 2003, the Food and Nutrition Research Institute of the Department of Science and Technology issued a report saying eight out of 10 households in the Philippines are hungry.

There is no question that in spite of the stunning progress made by neighbors in the region, considerable poverty remains. But, except for the Philippines, hunger isn’t part of the economic vocabulary. Here, in contrast, under GMA’s watch, hunger has suddenly become officially acknowledged fact.

That’s something which GMA’s fans, both in and outside government, will have to explain. How come everyone, and that includes Malacañang, is now talking about hunger? One can understand all that talk about poverty. That has been the perennial problem since pre-war times. But never hunger, that is, until now.

Officially acknowledged hunger is the one shattering admission that there is something fundamentally wrong about the economics and the economic performance of this six-year-old government. Hunger was hardly, if ever, mentioned in previous regimes. But it is now, and talked about officially.

And so with hunger talk spreading around, where this isn’t so in neighboring countries, the IMF, the WB and the UN certainly have reason to pronounce that the Philippines has been, or is just about to be, overtaken by countries such as Vietnam and Bangladesh. And that did not happen in previous administrations.

What then could be the explanation? Why should the Philippines, to use the words of the UN, be the “laggard in Southeast Asia?”

The answer has something to do with industrialization.

This writer has a copy of the 2004 issue of the ADB’s Key Indicators and the comparative figures on the industrial growth rates of the Philippines, Bangladesh and Vietnam that tell it all.

Growth Rates of Industrial Sector in percent

2000 2001 2002 2003 Vietnam 10.1 10.4 9.5 10.3 Bangladesh 6.2 7.4 6.5 7.3 Philippines 4.9 0.9 3.7 3.0

Source: ADB Key Indicators 2004, Table 12

How then explain the figures — for the Philippines?

You see, GMA the economist as well as the economists who surround her — mostly if not exclusively from the UP and Ateneo School of Economics — don’t believe in industrialization, period.

The economists of Vietnam and Bangladesh, in contrast and judging by the performance of their industrial sectors, obviously do.

That’s the difference.

Perhaps that’s what GO’s senatorial slate should point out. That is, if it believes in industrialization. The question is, does the opposition? If it does, why doesn’t it present a legislative program focused on industrialization? Daily Tribune 03/29/2007

Related Links:

Behind GMA's Economic Hype, Filipinos' Lives Continue to Worsen
Arroyo’s Six-Year Record Shows Highest Debt, Lowest Cost In Social Services

2006: The Economics of Hype

ECONOMY

2006: The Economics of Hype

Administration propaganda one-sidedly presents growth, peso appreciation, lower public deficits and foreign investments as if these were development ends in themselves. But the deteriorating social conditions of joblessness, hunger and poverty are the sharpest rebuttal of any government economic hype.

BY SONNY AFRICA
IBON Foundation
Posted by Bulatlat

The government has been bombarding the public for months with news of a supposedly strengthening economy: continued growth, strong peso, low budget deficits, improving credit ratings and continuing foreign investments. Big business has dutifully joined the chorus with segments even visibly taking the political side of the beleaguered Arroyo administration. Yet the reality of historic joblessness, deepening poverty and hunger of tens of millions of Filipinos is undeniable.

The seeming contradiction merely shows different sides of the same coin – a national economy that, especially under the Arroyo watch, does not serve the needs of the people. The economic “good news” has been good only for foreign creditors, investors and the administration which works so hard to deliver what they want. However even the “good news” as such will likely be short-lived with the underlying fiscal crunch and continuing borrowing portending problems in the near future. The domestic economy remains weak and, moreover, excessively vulnerable to global economic disturbances.

The year just passed has seen four significant economic trends: 1) the continuing historic jobs crisis; 2) the implementation of burdensome economic policies to address the government’s fiscal crisis; 3) the increasing dependence of the domestic economy on external sourcing of financing, especially overseas remittances; and 4) continued efforts to open up the economy to foreign trade and investment. Since all these happen in the context of a backward and pre-industrial economy, their adverse implications are far-reaching: the people have suffered in the year gone by, are likely to suffer even more in the medium-term, and – absent real changes in economic policies – will continue to suffer even beyond this.

Historic joblessness

The biggest failure of the Arroyo regime is the unprecedented lack of jobs where the country is facing its worst jobs crisis. That this is happening amid continued economic growth (5.4 percent growth in gross domestic product in the first three quarters of 2006) and higher net income of corporations (32.5 percent increase in earnings of companies listed in the Philippine Stock Exchange in the first nine months of 2006) underscores the problem of an inequitable economy that favors a few while increasingly unable to provide jobs for millions of Filipinos.

There were 4.0 million unemployed Filipinos and 7.3 million underemployed in 2006 – i.e. 11.3 million Filipinos or nearly a third of the labor force were either jobless or, even if employed, nonetheless still seeking more work. (This dismal reality is barely concealed by a convenient change in the definition of unemployment last April 2005 that reduces the officially reported rate by around three percent and the number by around 1.5 million.)

The problem is clearly not just momentary. The average annual unemployment rate of 11.3 percent and underemployment rate of 18.5 percent over the last six years is the worst six-year period in the country’s history, which indicates a deep-seated problem. While the unemployment rate has remained stable around a high 11 percent, the underemployment rate on the other hand has severely deteriorated and increased by some five percentage points in the last six years to nearly 22 percent. This draws attention to the worsening quality of employment and how already having a job is increasingly not even enough.

A particular development in 2006 is the sudden drastic drop in the labor force participation rate (LFPR) which fell from 67.0 percent in 2005 to 65.4 percent in 2006. The LFPR measures how many Filipinos over 15 years old are looking for work and thus considered part of the labor force. The drop in the LFPR implies that some 890,000 Filipinos (equivalent to the difference had the LFPR remained the same since the year before) ceased to be considered part of the labor force. Considering the previous five years of record joblessness, it is possible that many or all of these 890,000 Filipinos are discouraged job-seekers. If so, their “departure” from the labor force has the effect of greatly reducing reported unemployment.

Burdens in the year gone by

The Arroyo administration’s major economic effort in 2006 has been to rein in mounting government fiscal deficits. The national government deficit of P50.4 billion ($1,024,494,359 at an exchange rate of $1=P49.195) in the first nine months of 2006 is projected to come to a full-year deficit of around P100 billion ($2,032,726,903). However the achievements on this front are less signs of a strengthening economy than indications of how economic burdens are placed on those already least able to bear them – the deficit was reduced by charging higher taxes while drastically reducing critical spending especially on social services.

Conspicuously implemented amid a climate of harsh political repression were higher taxes and reduced public spending on education, health, housing and economic services – bringing to mind images of a strong state forcing unpopular measures on the people. On one hand, some P278 billion ($5,650,980,790) are targeted to be raised in 2006 from higher taxes, fees, rates and charges for public services. The new 12 percent Value-Added Tax (VAT) since February alone has taken an additional P61.7 billion ($1,254,192,499) from consumers’ pockets in the first ten months of 2006.

On the other hand, the government opted to cut back further on already emaciated social service budgets. Real public spending on education continued to fall in 2006. The current P1, 296 ($26.34) per Filipino (in 2001 pesos) spending for education is 13 percent down from its 2001 level. Health spending has fallen by an even more drastic 27 percent over the same period amounting to a meager P120 ($2.43) per Filipino.

These fiscally repressive measures are aimed at assuring creditors that loans would be paid and foreign investors that foreign exchange would be available for their globally-integrated commercial, financial and pseudo-manufacturing operations. Around P721.7 billion ($14,570,190,059) is programmed to be repaid to creditors in 2006 which is equivalent to P6, 391 ($129.91) per Filipino (in 2001 pesos), or nearly five times the combined spending on education and health. As it is, the government borrowed P592.4 billion ($12,041,874,174) in the first 11 months or slightly less than in the same period in 2005. Over four-fifths of this borrowing went straight back to creditors for debt servicing.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank (WB) have visibly supported the Arroyo administration’s fiscal squeeze. Aside from the IMF-WB issuing favorable country assessments of government finances, the WB in December approved the immediate single tranche disbursement of a US$250 million policy loan – its first in almost a decade – because the associated fiscal policy conditionalities were already met.

Erosion of the domestic economy

Seeming improvements in various external indicators are also hyped as signs of an improving economy. The “resurgent” peso which hit a near 6-year high of P49.19 to the US dollar in late December is particularly hyped as a sign of strength. Yet, on the contrary, most of the factors underlying the recent appreciation of the peso in fact highlight the opposite (aside from the actual weakening of the US dollar because of the U.S.’s internal economic problems). The peso has not been appreciating because of increasing global demand for genuinely Philippine-made goods. If it were the case, it would have been a good thing insofar as that would imply increased domestic production for the international market. The gains from the increased production of local firms would supposedly accrue to the domestic economy and its producers.

However the appreciation of the peso has instead been driven by factors with little relationship to building domestic productive capacity. The country’s biggest source of foreign exchange is remittances from some nine million overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) driven to seek work abroad. OFWs sent back US$10.3 billion in the first ten months of 2006, or a 16.6 percent increase from the same period the year before. OFW remittances benefit the economy in two ways. The accumulation of foreign exchange brought about by the remittances eases local demand for dollars causing its value to go down. Second, it supports the consumption and survival of tens of millions of OFW family members left behind. But in a deeper economic sense the cheaply bought labor of OFWs actually contributes more to building the economies of their host countries than of the Philippines. Moreover, the increasing deployment of OFWs is actually an indication that the local economy – eroded by decades of retrogressive “free market” policies – is bereft of opportunities for productive employment, which is the reason OFWs went abroad in the first place.

The country’s other sources of foreign exchange are not only much less but also basically hollow in their own specific ways. Exports in the first ten months of 2006 grew 16.4 percent from a year ago to US$39.3 billion. But over four-fifths of these exports are heavily import-intensive electronics (some 75 percent), clothing and a few other manufactures, mainly by foreign TNCs. Because the country’s export products are heavy on imported components, not to mention the imported machines and oil needed to produce these, net foreign exchange earned from exports is much less and even smaller than that coming from OFW remittances. There were also net portfolio investments in the first eleven months of the year of US$2.1 billion, marginally higher than in the same period last year. Portfolio investments are highly mobile and do not actually contribute to the economy except as temporary sources of foreign exchange.

Surrendering economic sovereignty

The country’s economic problems are essentially the result of decades of anti-people and elite-oriented economic policies. The so-called neoliberal “globalization” policies that surrender economies to the profit-oriented dynamic of foreign monopoly capital and domestic big business are trade and investment liberalization, privatization and deregulation.

Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been a dogmatic advocate of “free market” policies since her technocratic days in the 1980s, her senatorial stint in the 1990s and up to her presidency in the 2000s. In 2006 she took these policies as far as possible within the current Constitution and, deeming this the last remaining legal fetter, also pushed to change the charter itself.

There was the renewed drive to open up the country’s rich mineral resources to foreign plunder. Building on various mining-related plans and programs and a favorable Supreme Court decision in 2004 and 2005, the government held international mining conferences and went on an international road show in 2006. Within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) the Philippines pushed for so-called “regional integration” – deceitful spin for economic policies geared at attracting American, European and Japanese investors away from China and India by offering cheaper labor, greater freedom to exploit natural resources, lower environmental standards, lower taxes, and as unrestricted operations as possible.

Especially significant in 2006 is how the Arroyo administration entered into the country’s first full-fledged free trade agreement (FTA) with Japan: the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA). The JPEPA is a patently unequal deal that one-sidedly demands much greater trade and investment liberalization from the backward pre-industrial Philippines than advanced capitalist Japan makes. The unprecedented deal also gravely undermines the country’s negotiating position in all subsequent trade and investment agreements. The end result of the JPEPA and other such agreements will be to decisively prevent any real domestic industrial growth and economic progress.

The closing weeks of 2006 finally also saw the Arroyo administration’s attempts to overhaul the 1987 Constitution including, aside from changes in the political set-up, removing various economic sovereignty provisions for developing the domestic economy. Among others these provisions include controls on foreign equity investments, exploitation of natural resources and land ownership and provisions promoting Filipino economic activity.

Challenges in 2007

The deteriorating social conditions of joblessness, hunger and poverty – IBON’s last October 2006 survey had over 70 percent of respondents rating themselves as poor – are the sharpest rebuttal of any government economic hype. Administration propaganda one-sidedly presents growth, peso appreciation, lower public deficits and foreign investments as if these were development ends in themselves. Similarly, the usual government argument that the fiscal sacrifices are short-term pain for long-term gain is specious considering that the fiscal squeeze is precisely aimed at furthering the administration’s bankrupt neoliberal agenda. As it is, the New Year will already open with further privatization-driven water and power rate hikes.

In her speech at the 28th Catholic Mass Media Awards (CMMA) ceremonies in November, Pres. Arroyo dreamily said, “So much is going well in the Philippines… I hope to leave office in 2010 with the nation well on its way to First World status.” Yet, clearly, little is going well for the majority of Filipinos. It is entirely understandable that many will probably think that the three years until 2010 is too long and, equally understandably, do their utmost to ensure that she leaves office as early as possible before then. IBONFoundation/posted by Bulatlat

Two Versions Of The Philippine Political Economy