Posts

‘Imbes na makakabili ka ng isang kilong bigas’

“Sa TRAIN Law, ang gastos ng mahihirap, lumalaki. Imbes na makabili ka ng isang kilong bigas, kalahati na lang. At ang isang kilong isda, kalahati na rin.”–Arturo Quiros, Tagapangulo, Kilusang May Kapansanan

 

Charter change creates illusion of change – Ibon exec

By April Burcer

The proposed constitution creating a federal Philippine government is President Rodrigo Duterte’s response to a growing discontent against his government, Ibon Executive Director Jose Enrique Africa said in a forum at UP Diliman Thursday afternoon.

“There is a limit to flattery, to disrespect, to insults, to bullying and to terrorizing. It underscores what this charter change is all about. It becomes important for Duterte to push the charter change because of this sort of discontent,” Africa said.

Africa explained that the more disgruntled and dissatisfied the people are, the more Pres. Duterte needs a new Constitution to create the illusion of change.

Contributory to growing discontent against the Duterte government is the lack of genuine economic growth, Rosario Bella Guzman, another IBON executive, said during the think tank’s Midyear 2018 “Birdtalk”.

“[The government says] we have the highest growth rate in Asia, with 6.8 percent. The truth behind that highest growth rate [however] is joblessness, poor quality of work, very low wages and 5,460 Filipinos leaving the country everyday to look for work,” Guzman said.

“Imagine this scenario, and then you slap the TRAIN Law, so now we also have the highest inflation rate,” she added.

Cha-cha’s major flaws

Africa said Duterte’s charter change and drive for federalism have three major flaws.

The first flaw, he said, is the concept of an ‘imperial Manila’ where so-called wealth distribution would emanate from.

“What resources are they going to redistribute from imperial Manila? Are we that rich? No. There are a lot of poor people in Manila,” Africa said.

The second flaw, he said is the need for a new Constitution to redistribute resources.

“Even [former chief justice Ma. Lourdes] Sereno said there are enough laws in place and legal bases to distribute resources, authority and responsibility to the regions,” Africa added.

The third flaw is the government’s refusal to change its anti-poor policies, according to Africa.

“Our policies are pro-elite and anti-people. It’s not about imperial manila versus the poor regions. The main contradiction is the elite vs the poor Filipino,” he explained.

In the end, the government’s charter change is not about federalism, national development and for redistributing resources to the poor regions, Africa said.

“Federalism is about political self interest,” he said. #

Anti-tyranny group assesses Duterte’s laws and bills

Days before President Rodrigo Duterte’s third State of the Nation Address on July 23, the Movement Against Tyranny gathered in Quezon City to assess the government economic policies and Congressional bills.

Economic experts, legislators and legal luminaries presented before the forum their assessment of Duterte’s tax reform law as well as efforts to amend both the Human Security Law and the Constitution.

TRAIN-driven rising cost of living makes wage hike urgent

Research group IBON said that tax-driven inflation is making the meager wages of poor Filipinos fall even further behind the rising cost of living.

The group said this makes it even more urgent for the government to immediately raise wages even as it revisits the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law behind the increase in consumption taxes.

The Duterte administration would be insensitive if it continues to resist the clamor for a decent national minimum wage, the group added.

IBON said that accelerating inflation has increased the family living wage (FLW) in the National Capital Region (NCR) and elsewhere.

IBON computations show that as of June 2018, a family of six needs Php1,175 to meet their basic needs, while a family of five needs Php979.

The FLW has increased by Php65 for a family of six and by Php54 for a family of five in June 2018 from the same period last year.

As it is, said the group, the NCR nominal minimum wage of Php512 is falling even further behind the rising cost of living.

The NCR nominal wage is only 44 percent of the FLW for a family of six, and 52% of the FLW for a family of five with a wage gap of Php663 (56 percent) and Php467 (48 percent), respectively.

The wage gap will continue to widen as inflation erodes the minimum wage.

Reacting to economic planning secretary Ernesto Pernia who said that a wage hike is not necessary, the group said that an immediate wage hike will help poor Filipinos cope with price spikes.

The Duterte administration can respond to the demand of labor groups for a Php750 national minimum wage.

IBON stressed that there are enough profits in the economy and among corporations to support the substantial increase in the minimum wage needed by workers and their families.

IBON also belied claims by the country’s economic managers in their joint statement on the June 2018 inflation that TRAIN’s reduction of personal income taxes, cash transfers, and allocation for free social and economic services “should help in coping with the rising prices of goods.”

The group said that their assertion that TRAIN “increased the take-home pay of 99 percent of income tax payers” is grossly deceitful because they know that only around 7.5 million or one-third (33 percent) of Filipino families are income tax payers.

Of these, some two million were already exempt from paying income tax even before TRAIN because they were only minimum wage earners.

This means that 17.2 million or over three-fourths (76 percent) of Filipino families suffer inflation but without any increased take-home pay.

IBON also said that the government should stop hyping TRAIN’s cash transfers because when they are ended by 2020 the higher prices of goods and services due to TRAIN will remain.

The group said that the Duterte administration’s unrepentant defense of TRAIN is daily affirmation of its callousness to the plight of tens of millions of poor Filipinos and its refusal to replace TRAIN with a more genuinely progressive tax package that is unafraid to tax the rich. #

 

Duterte’s TRAIN to blame for highest inflation in nearly 10 years — IBON

Research group IBON said that the government’s insistence on higher taxes especially on the poor is among the factors driving inflation rates to their highest in nearly a decade.

The group said that runaway inflation is due to the peso depreciation and rising global oil prices combined with the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law.

Among these, TRAIN’s higher consumption taxes are directly within the government’s control and it can immediately arrest the tax-driven portion of inflation if it chooses to do so.

The Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) has reported a 5.2 percent inflation rate for the month of June.

The biggest price increases were in food, especially in corn, vegetables, meat and rice; alcohol and cigarettes; transport; housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels; and education.

This 5.2 percent inflation rate is more than double the 2.5 percent in the same period a year ago and four times the 1.3 percent inflation rate in June 2016 at the start of the Duterte administration.

The June inflation rate appears as the fastest in only five years because available estimates using the current base year [2012=100] are only until 2013.

But IBON noted that inflation today would already be the fastest in nearly a decade, or since March 2009, using inflation data according to the previous base year [2006=100] as an approximation.

Sonny Africa, IBON executive director, explained that the TRAIN-triggered increase in consumption taxes, especially on fuel products, is an inflation factor immediately within the government’s control.

“The Duterte administration’s insistence on TRAIN makes it directly accountable for the highest inflation in almost ten years,” said Africa, “and its pushing the higher taxes last year amid already rising global oil prices and a depreciating peso only underscores its insensitivity to the poor.”

Africa stressed that the runaway inflation hits poor Filipinos the hardest because their incomes are so low already that any price increase means they will be consuming less.

Moreover, food spending accounts for over half the expenses especially of the poorest households so that food prices are rising even faster than other commodities is particularly alarming.

The poorest are hit worst, Africa said, adding, “The cumulative impact of high inflation is that the poor will eat less, walk more, forego spending on medicines and treatment, scrimp on their utilities, and have nothing for emergencies.”

In the short-term, government can suspend TRAIN to moderate inflation and provide relief to millions of poor Filipinos. Even better, it can work towards eventually reforming the tax reform package to become genuinely progressive rather than regressive and anti-poor, said Africa.

Africa added that the government can also take measures to moderate inflation over the longer term. It can manage the impact of rising global oil prices through responsible regulation of the oil industry.

Arresting the peso’s steady decline will, he said, require a more comprehensive approach.

 

This includes identifying and overcoming: the long-standing agricultural and industrial backwardness at the root of the country’s chronic trade deficit; the over-reliance on overseas remittances for foreign exchange; and the over-reliance on foreign debt and investment. #

Progressives hold Black Friday Protest on Duterte’s 2nd year in office

Progressive groups held a Black Friday Protest at along EDSA, Quezon City last June 29, 2018 on the eve of the second anniversary of President Rodrigo Duterte ascension to office.

Aside from narrating Duterte’s failed promises, the protesters complained of the many human rights violations committed under his administration.

Former UP dean launches workshop on ethical reporting

By April Burcer

“One of the most common flaws of Philippine media is lack of context in reporting,” former dean of the College of Mass Communications in UP Diliman Luis Teodoro pointed out during his workshop on journalism ethics yesterday.

Organized by the People’s Alternative Media Network (Altermidya), the workshop aimed to remind young media practitioners about the importance of adhering to ethical standards when reporting and to discuss the common ethical problems in the Philippine press.

Lack of context, according to Teodoro, is both a professional and ethical failing because people can’t make sense of what the story is all about.

He cited conflict reporting as an example, particularly the Marawi siege and the 2001 military campaign against the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MNLF).

“During the Marawi siege, 90 percent of the coverage was in the conduct of the war. There is hardly any context. Same with the 2001 military attacks which the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility (CMFR) analyzed, showing that out of 6000 articles, only seven provided context,” Teodoro said.

Social issues and the Philippine Press

Teodoro criticized the Philippine media for failing to provide context on the social issues they are covering, including poverty, contractualization, unemployment, and President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive against so-called loiterers.

“The most crucial thing about the Filipino society is its poverty. There are 22 million Filipinos in extreme want and 50 million others who are vulnerable to the vicissitudes of living in the Philippines. Much of the reporting has to be about poverty and its related consequences and implications,” the former dean said.

He also said that not all ‘tambays’ (loiterers) are lazy or criminals, and that most of them are victims of labor only contractualization, poverty and poor housing conditions.

“The media have to be reporting all of these. Are they reporting these? Are they doing a good job of reporting these?” he asked.

He also noted that the social issues are given more exposure in social media than in the Philippine media.

Ethical Problems in the Philippine Press

According to Teodoro, being accurate is very important, especially today in the era of alternative truth and fake news, saying “false information can be very dangerous.”

He also emphasized the importance of adhering to the rules of journalism at a time when ordinary citizens and non-journalists can practice journalistic work.

“The press has the capacity to help transform society. It can do this by being true to the ethical standards that for many years have been established,” Teodoro advised.

Teodoro, Altermidya chairperson, is a retired Journalism professor in UP College of Mass Communication, a noted author and resource speaker on journalism ethics, media education and other media issues for various workshops, seminars and conferences in the Philippines and abroad. #

Citizens speak against TRAIN law

Ordinary citizens speak on the Rodrigo Duterte’s Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law, explaining the poor are affected the most by the inflation caused by the measure.

TRAIN was among the issues condemned by activists as they commemorated Philippine Independence Day with a protest action last June 12.

Stop over-relying on foreign investments, government told

The Rodrigo Duterte government should not depend on foreign investments for economic progress and job generation soon after the enactment of the Ease of Doing Business and Efficient Government Service Delivery Act, research group IBON said.

The Ease of Doing Business Act or Republic Act (RA) 11032, signed into law last May 28, aims to simplify the application process for the establishment of businesses in the country.

Proponents say that RA 11032 aims to attract more foreign investments.

IBON said however that even after several decades of rising foreign investments, domestic industries and agriculture remain lagging while the Filipino people continue to be mired in a poor jobs situation.

Foreign direct investments (FDI) have grown by 391 percent from US$664 million in 2013 to US$3.3 billion in 2017.

But most of these investments have gone to foreign export enclave manufacturing, business process outsourcing, commercial and residential real estate, and transport infrastructure.

These areas are profitable for foreign and local big business, but not necessarily beneficial to the country’s economic development, said the group.

IBON explained that investments have remained scarce in domestic industries and agriculture sectors that are much-needed for sustainable and genuine growth and job generation.

For instance, agriculture only received 0.6 percent (US$19.6 million) of total FDI in 2017.

Meanwhile, the gross domestic product (GDP) share of agriculture declined from 10.5 percent in 2013 to 8.5 percent in 2017.

Manufacturing remains stagnant with minimal change from its 22.8 percent GDP share in 2013 to 23.6 percent in 2017.

Rising FDI has not translated into improved job generation.

IBON noted that the number of employed Filipinos fell by 663,000 from 40.3 million in 2017 from the previous year, which is the biggest contraction in employment in 20 years.

The labor force participation rate (LFPR) also dropped to 63.7 percent, the lowest in 20 years when it was 63.1 percent in 1985 during the severe economic crisis.

More recent official labor data for the first quarter of 2018 shows that there are over one million underemployed despite higher employment and lower unemployment.

Before RA 11032 was signed, the World Competitiveness Report showed that the Philippines’ attractiveness to corporations wanting to do business here was diminishing.

The country’s ranking plunged by nine slots, reportedly the biggest drop in Asia, due to employment concerns and poor social infrastructure.

IBON however said that instead of focusing on attracting foreign investments, the Philippine government should first ensure its control over key local industries, utilities and services, as well as place national interest and public welfare above local and foreign big business interests.

For the country to truly benefit from foreign investments, these should be planned in accordance with genuine domestic development, with close government monitoring and regulation, said the group. #

 

Severe Income Inequality in the Philippines

Despite being relatively high compared to other Asian countries, Philippine economic growth is lopsided in the interest of a few at the expense of the majority of poor Filipinos. High levels of wealth are concentrated in the hands of a few, while family incomes have stagnated in real terms, especially amid rising prices.