PRESS STATEMENT
February 25, 2009
The 23 years of EDSA’s historic role of realizing the true power of the people lives on to strengthen their aspiration for equality and genuine justice. Equality for every Filipino who has long been deprived of his right to own a land, live in a descent shelter, work with just wages, and take pleasure from all his hard works and from all of the nation’s wealth. EDSA reminds every Filipino of the justice he genuinely deserves for every right that has been violated of him, the economic inequities and state fascism he has suffered from unbearably.
There is no other way to survive but to defeat the fascist, fake, and corrupt regime of Gloria Arroyo. When the Filipino people threw out Hitler-like Ferdinand Marcos from Malacañang, after sowing terror, inflicting mental and physical torture to everyone who stood in opposition of his dictatorship, and causing the death of thousands of innocent civilians, every Filipino realized that a united and strong mass movement can destroy Marcos’ iron hands. Now, the people have thousand folds of reasons to oust Gloria Arroyo from Malacañang.
First, the Arroyo administration is accountable for the worsening economic crisis happening in the country. Long before the burst of global financial crisis, the Philippines is already suffering from serious economic bankruptcy due to its incapacity to generate local jobs that are independent from the aids of foreign investments. An all time high record, unemployment in the country increased to more than 11 million by the start of 2009. Out of the 81 million total population of the country, 70 million (or 13.9 million families) are living with only P112 or lower than this amount as their daily earning. The government’s inutility to prop up employment for its millions of labor forces has intensified its labor export policies. Now, about 4,000 thousands Overseas Filipino Workers have lost their jobs and 50,000 to 100,000 thousands more are expected to lose their jobs as the crisis is expected to worsen in the coming months.
The Arroyo government’s insistence of foreign trade agreements through GATT-WTO, APEC, EAGA, etc. intensifies the implementation of globalization policies of deregulation, privatization, and liberalization. This, in effect, makes the Arroyo government inutile amidst the soaring prices of oil, rice, and other basic commodities. Registered under the Arroyo government is a 13.6% rate of increase in the prices of food where 29.2% is the increase in the price of rice. The liberalization of local markets make locally-produced agricultural products less competitive compared to imported products. Add to this the IMF-World Bank dictated imposition of Value Added Tax (VAT) on the prices of basic commodities which has made life very unlivable for jobless Filipinos. Absurd as it is, the Arroyo administration through the Mining Act of 1995 has permitted transnational mining companies to exploit the country’s mineral resources. As of the latest, there are 62 priority mining projects approved under the government’s Mining Revitalization Program.
On the other hand, the soaring prices of oil products which increased to as much as P52 per liter will continue unless the government scraps the Oil Deregulation Law. While the government is relentless in privatizing Government Owned and Controlled Corporations (GOCC’s), consumers are suffering from high power and water rates. The government’s supposed obligation to provide free housing services for the Filipino families has become a super-profiting business for transnational corporations like the Balikatan Housing Finance Inc. which is a subsidiary of the Deutsche Bank Real Estate Global Opportunities (DBREG).
Second, immorality penetrates down to the very core of the Arroyo government. Gloria Arroyo’s sham presidency whose victory was through a rigged election is not mandated to begin with. More than just ouster, the massive corruption in the bureaucracy that Gloria Arroyo, along with the first family and her political allies, tolerates and participates herself should deserve her a lifetime in jail. Billions of pesos from the nation’s coffer were corrupted and squandered by the Arroyo government while millions of Filipinos barely get a single peso for their daily needs.
Third, political killings and harassments are callously executed by the Arroyo government as its reaction to the mounting people’s discontent and uprising. In protection of foreign capitalist interests, the military is relentless in harassing and causing the displacement of farmers and indigenous peoples in the hinterlands of Southern Mindanao to pave the way for the operations of transnational mining companies and other multinational corporations that own vast plantations. This regime has so far committed 995 cases of political killings and 190 cases of enforced disappearances. Worst, these cases remain unresolved and such violations of human rights continue with impunity.
To quell the people’s assertion of their legitimate rights will inevitably bring the people to fight by all means. The true legacy of EDSA did not end 23 years ago. The chain of oppression it broke from the 20 years of Marcos rule has taught the people to continue fighting for the cause of the oppressed, the children’s welfare, and for a society that is free to give the future generations their rights and aspirations for equality.
Our continuing struggles will pull our strengths together, strong and unbending amidst attacks and dissuasions of the fascist, sham, and corrupt Arroyo regime. Thus, we say:
Jobs and Higher Wages for the Workers!
Remove VAT on Oil, Power, Foods and Other Basic Goods and Services!
Higher Budget for Education, Housing, and Health!
Defend National Patrimony and Sovereignty!
Pass HB 3059 or the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill!
Advance National Industrialization!
No To Charter Change!
Oust Gloria Arroyo!
