"It's not just because of the Duterte administration, it's because of decades of accumulating policies which started during the Marcos dictatorship."
The stinginess of the Philippine government’s COVID-19 response only reflects how thoroughly the state has internalized its role as prioritizing the interests of capital over the working classes. It is not spending what needs to be spent on COVID-19 containment, health measures, assistance to distressed families and small enterprises, and others.
“Substantial revenues can be raised by taxing the country’s super-rich who can well afford to contribute much more to COVID-19 response and other needs. This is aside from how the administration can realign funds from bloated infrastructure, military and police, and debt servicing items in the proposed 2022 budget.”
Aside from the fact that the biggest chunk was not used specifically for the COVID-19 response, it is the taxpayers who will suffer the most in paying off these debts.
“The Aquino government wants to make the production of cheap labor even more systematic with the K+12.”
CenPEG noted that President Aquino’s biggest backers saw their wealth increase three to four times as large as when his presidency started.
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Failed promises of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001.
Sidebar: Power firms, creditors assured of billions, while consumers burdened with Napocor debt
By bulatlat.com The public deserves better than a selective presentation of facts and figures in the president's first year, and is hoping to be given a whole picture of the state of the nation. This is the challenge for President Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino issued...
By ANNE MARXZE D. UMIL
Using Einstein’s definition of insanity, Ibon's Jose Enrique Africa said that with the Philippine Development Plan of President Benigno Aquino III, the government is doing the same things all over again and expecting different results.
There is no basis in the plan of oil firms to again hike the prices of their petroleum products in spite of the uptrend in world oil prices. Oil companies in the country have overpriced their products by around 16 centavos per liter from January to May this year....
Media Release There is a marked increase in the 2011 national government (NG) budget submitted to Congress, making the proposed budget alarmingly patronage-rich, says research group IBON. The Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF) in the proposed 2011 budget...
By IBON FOUNDATION
‘Election privatization’ is a phenomenon that is feared even in the most advanced countries as undermining an important democratic exercise such as the national elections.
The crisis is no longer just about electoral fraud. The economic crisis resulting in mass unrest, the lack of business confidence, and the political crisis due to rebellion have come together into a final crisis for the Arroyo government. By Antonio Tujan Jr. IBON...
President Arroyo will not be able to easily ride out this crisis of confidence because she is perceived to be directly responsible for a deeper economic and political crisis besetting the country. By Antonio Tujan Jr. IBON Research Director Posted by Bulatlat IBON...
A recent survey of IBON Foundation confirms telltale signs of 2005 as a critical year for President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo. Based on its Dec. 20-29, 2004 nationwide survey, IBON revealed an increasing number of Filipinos who are dissatisfied with the President’s...
Charges of corruption, among others, resulted in the ouster of then President Joseph Ejercito Estrada on Jan. 20, 2001 in a people’s uprising popularly known as EDSA Dos. Immediately after being sworn in as Estrada’s successor, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo promised to...
By Trina Melissa Federis Bulatlat.com Summer is a time for ice cream, as the hot weather tends to increase demand for this already popular dessert. At this time, Philippine-owned enterprises compete with their foreign counterparts by lowering their prices, the same...
Senators from the Foreign Relations Committee who are conducting hearings on the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) should consider provisions in the free trade pact that threaten the country's sovereignty as enough grounds not to ratify the...
The Arroyo administration's hype over its full-year 2007 economic growth cannot hide its many economic failures. BY IBON FOUNDATION Posted by Bulatlat Vol. VIII, No. 1, February 3-9, 2008 The Arroyo administration's hype over its full-year 2007 economic growth...
Addressing the impact of the lowering peso value requires more than the mitigating measures government has so far implemented, including the hedge fund set up by the DBP, and Malacañang’s fiscal stimulus program BY SONNY AFRICA IBON Features Posted by Bulatlat Vol....
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