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Five of the biggest rural groups in the Philippines – the Anakpawis party list, the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas, the fisherfolk alliance Pamalakaya, the Unyon ng mga Manggagawa sa Agrikultura and the peasant women’s federation Amihan – said instead of granting Arroyo emergency powers, lawmakers in both chambers of Congress should devise an exit strategy for the president.
The proposed emergency exit for the current occupants of the Presidential Palace was one of the rallying political themes of the week-long Peasant March for Land, Food and Social Justice staged by farmers, fisherfolk, peasant women and agricultural workers last week to oppose the extension of the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program, which farmer groups have dismissed as bogus and a nationwide nightmare over the last 20 years.
The call to grant extra powers to Arroyo was initiated by one of her supporters in the House of Representatives, Rep. Thomas Dumpit Jr., who filed House Resolution 512 granting emergency powers to the president to address the rice crisis and other problems in the most efficient and judicious manner. But administration critics said the resolution was raised to legitimize the prevailing de facto martial law across the country.
The majority of the Filipino public supports the opposition in rejecting emergency powers for President Arroyo. Many fear such powers would make the Manila government more corrupt, more brutal, and anti-people.
The Filipinos have many reasons for opposing the granting of emergency powers to Arroyo. First, she has lost credibility in the face of repeated charges of corruption.
Second, the government is accused of grave abuses of power and a penchant for violating basic human rights and civil liberties. From Jan. 21, 2001 to March 2008, the Manila government is held responsible for the brutal murders and summary executions of 903 political activists and critics of the government. It is also charged with abducting 193 activists over the same period.
Third, Arroyo’s republic is known to the Filipino public and the international community as a regime of outright and constant denial – a reputation this government has earned over the last seven years among human rights and anti-corruption watchdogs in the Philippines and elsewhere in the world.
Fourth, an emergency exit will help put an end to the president’s plan to withdraw massive funds from the national coffers in preparation for the 2010 presidential and local elections.
Since last week, the Manila government has released billions in taxpayers’ money under the guise of providing quick relief to millions of Filipino poor, badly affected by the rising costs of petroleum products, rice and other foodstuffs, power and basic social services.
Last week the Manila government released 2 billion pesos (nearly US$45 million) in power subsidies, another 2 billion pesos for fertilizer support to farmers and 1 billion pesos (US$22.5 million) in scholarship grants to out-of-school youth and poor Filipino students.
These billions in taxpayers’ money released to local government units and government agencies are part of an ambitious 93.6 billion-peso (US$2.1 billion) economic aid program the government intends to release on or before the 2010 elections.
Arroyo and her economic managers are pouring out a flood of empty promises and false hopes to the starving public, characterized by showcase handouts and photo-op-inspired charity work to obscure the truth about the economy and the very depressing situation of the people.
The palace merely spread the news to its political allies that there will be enough money for them in the 2010 elections. The president seems to be telling the pro-administration politicians that there will be cash bonuses for those that continue to support her.
The Finance Department said the 93.6 billion-peso aid program would be partly funded by the windfall tax revenues the government collects from high petroleum prices – amounting to some 18.6 billion pesos. The other 75 billion will come from foreign sources, according to the department.
The handout packages include the 1 billion-peso scholarship grants and interest-free loans to poor students and soft loans to jeepney drivers who wish to switch to cheaper and more environment-friendly petroleum gas engines.
Arroyo, her economic and political policies, and the present social system she represents are the root causes of gigantic woes facing this nation of 88.5 million Filipinos. Her emergency exit is necessary so the Philippines could start urgent and meaningful economic and socio-political reforms. Prevailing public opinion in the Philippines is that in order for the country to move on, the Congress and other branches of the government must unite and agree on the necessity of removing the president.
It is politically and morally correct for the Filipino public to say, “Enough of hunger and poverty. Enough of bureaucratic corruption and state brutality. Enough of President Arroyo.”
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(Gerry Albert Corpuz is a correspondent of Bulatlat.com, an alternative Philippine online news site. He is also head of the information department of Pamalakaya, a national federation of small fisherfolk organizations in the Philippines. His website is www.gerryalbertcorpuz.motime.com, and he can be contacted at themanager98@yahoo.com. ©Copyright Gerry Albert Corpuz)
