Post by 1949 on Jun 2, 2005 18:30:42 GMT -5
Editorial:
Enough is enough!
Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino
For the past four years under the US-Arroyo regime, the people's livelihood rapidly declined and the national economy sunk deeper in crisis. All the more reason why the Filipino people should oust the US-Arroyo regime.
Arroyo's claims on the supposed 6.1% growth of the gross domestic product (GDP or the local production) in the past year are hollow and useless. The monthly statistics contrived by the regime serve only to prettify if not deviously mislead.
The main sectors of the economy remain import-dependent geared for export. However, these have considerably shrunk and are now on the verge of collapse. The slow growth of the US economy, which is the principal market for the country's exports, and the oversupply of the goods being exported by the Philippines in the world market are slowing down local production resulting in a sluggish industrial sector. The fabricated robust growth this March could not hide the fact that production for machinery and equipment, raw materials and other products for export fell by 22.5%.
The rise and fall of agricultural production estimates depend on the regime's objectives. In order to prettify statistics the past year, it padded agricultural output statistics, including palay production. In the last few months, however, it arbitrarily declared that palay production fell short even if the harvest season was not yet over, in order to justify an increase in rice importation and pave the way for Malacanang-controlled rice smuggling.
The regime bloated the growth rate by manipulating the service sector data. Foremost is the estimate of the billion peso earnings of telecommunications companies, which come from overpricing their services.
Nevertheless, the regime itself admits that the "growth" of the economy is the result of massive election spending last year and billions of overseas contract workers (OCW) remittances.
In any case, the regime cannot hide the growing number of starving Filipinos and the statistics that reflect it. The highest unemployment rate, the highest prices for goods and services, the lowest peso-dollar exchange value, and the highest number of people starving are all ascribed to Arroyo's regime.
According to independent surveys, in the past 20 years, hunger statistics among Filipinos was highest in the first three months of 2005. It is estimated that 15.5% or over 12 million Filipinos live on one dollar or PhP55 a day. Furthermore, 47.5% or over 37 million people live on less than $2 a day.
Likewise, even in the regime's reduced and manipulated statistics, there is an increase of about one million unemployed each year. Over five million Filipino workers are underemployed. This does not include the unemployed among the 11 million "self-employed" which covers sidewalk vendors and those without a steady job. The figure also excludes the millions of workers who are "no longer looking for work" and the estimated 10 million workers and professionals who have gone overseas.
Under Arroyo, wages have not increased even by a single centavo. Although meager, wages increased by an average of PhP20 annually since 1996. From 2001 however, wages were pegged at PhP250 even as the cost of living of a family of six in the National Capital Region (NCR) shoot-up to PhP712 a day.
From 2001, the real value of wages has declined by PhP6 as a result of the increase in the prices of basic services and products, principally petroleum products. In the last two years alone, the price of petroleum products increased by an average of PhP6 a year. The increases have been steep compared to the PhP1.70 annual increase on the said products from 1999 to 2001.
The US-Arroyo regime has no compassion for the people. Arroyo brazenly mocks their protests and mobilizations declaring pompously that no coup d'etat, uprising or protest can oust her from power or prevent her from implementing the anti-people schemes of her regime.
Bite the bullet, she says, while her family and her cronies carouse on stolen wealth. Tighten your belts, she says, while gigantic companies siphon profits from the hard-earned wages and salaries of the workers and employees.
In the face of the excessive suffering of the Filipino people under the puppet, anti-people, rotten and fascist Arroyo regime, the reasons are ever clearer for toppling it from power. The situation demands that the streets be transformed into an arena of struggle between the regime clinging onto power and the people clamoring for change. The need for revolutionary change becomes ever clearer. Eventually, the downfall of the Arroyo regime is one step in the overall effort to end the oppressive and exploitative semi-colonial and semi-feudal system.
link
Enough is enough!
Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino
For the past four years under the US-Arroyo regime, the people's livelihood rapidly declined and the national economy sunk deeper in crisis. All the more reason why the Filipino people should oust the US-Arroyo regime.
Arroyo's claims on the supposed 6.1% growth of the gross domestic product (GDP or the local production) in the past year are hollow and useless. The monthly statistics contrived by the regime serve only to prettify if not deviously mislead.
The main sectors of the economy remain import-dependent geared for export. However, these have considerably shrunk and are now on the verge of collapse. The slow growth of the US economy, which is the principal market for the country's exports, and the oversupply of the goods being exported by the Philippines in the world market are slowing down local production resulting in a sluggish industrial sector. The fabricated robust growth this March could not hide the fact that production for machinery and equipment, raw materials and other products for export fell by 22.5%.
The rise and fall of agricultural production estimates depend on the regime's objectives. In order to prettify statistics the past year, it padded agricultural output statistics, including palay production. In the last few months, however, it arbitrarily declared that palay production fell short even if the harvest season was not yet over, in order to justify an increase in rice importation and pave the way for Malacanang-controlled rice smuggling.
The regime bloated the growth rate by manipulating the service sector data. Foremost is the estimate of the billion peso earnings of telecommunications companies, which come from overpricing their services.
Nevertheless, the regime itself admits that the "growth" of the economy is the result of massive election spending last year and billions of overseas contract workers (OCW) remittances.
In any case, the regime cannot hide the growing number of starving Filipinos and the statistics that reflect it. The highest unemployment rate, the highest prices for goods and services, the lowest peso-dollar exchange value, and the highest number of people starving are all ascribed to Arroyo's regime.
According to independent surveys, in the past 20 years, hunger statistics among Filipinos was highest in the first three months of 2005. It is estimated that 15.5% or over 12 million Filipinos live on one dollar or PhP55 a day. Furthermore, 47.5% or over 37 million people live on less than $2 a day.
Likewise, even in the regime's reduced and manipulated statistics, there is an increase of about one million unemployed each year. Over five million Filipino workers are underemployed. This does not include the unemployed among the 11 million "self-employed" which covers sidewalk vendors and those without a steady job. The figure also excludes the millions of workers who are "no longer looking for work" and the estimated 10 million workers and professionals who have gone overseas.
Under Arroyo, wages have not increased even by a single centavo. Although meager, wages increased by an average of PhP20 annually since 1996. From 2001 however, wages were pegged at PhP250 even as the cost of living of a family of six in the National Capital Region (NCR) shoot-up to PhP712 a day.
From 2001, the real value of wages has declined by PhP6 as a result of the increase in the prices of basic services and products, principally petroleum products. In the last two years alone, the price of petroleum products increased by an average of PhP6 a year. The increases have been steep compared to the PhP1.70 annual increase on the said products from 1999 to 2001.
The US-Arroyo regime has no compassion for the people. Arroyo brazenly mocks their protests and mobilizations declaring pompously that no coup d'etat, uprising or protest can oust her from power or prevent her from implementing the anti-people schemes of her regime.
Bite the bullet, she says, while her family and her cronies carouse on stolen wealth. Tighten your belts, she says, while gigantic companies siphon profits from the hard-earned wages and salaries of the workers and employees.
In the face of the excessive suffering of the Filipino people under the puppet, anti-people, rotten and fascist Arroyo regime, the reasons are ever clearer for toppling it from power. The situation demands that the streets be transformed into an arena of struggle between the regime clinging onto power and the people clamoring for change. The need for revolutionary change becomes ever clearer. Eventually, the downfall of the Arroyo regime is one step in the overall effort to end the oppressive and exploitative semi-colonial and semi-feudal system.
link