By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Bulatlat.com
MANILA – Love the Philippines?
For the People’s Summit organizers, Ferdinand Marcos Jr has “no love” for the Philippines as last year’s demands remain unheeded amid the worsening situation.
In reference to the government’s recently launched tourism campaign “Love the Philippines,” Raymond Palatino, former lawmaker and now secretary-general of Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, said that Marcos Jr displayed love for cronies and human rights violators.
The gathering was held today at the University of the Philippines Diliman just two days before Marcos Jr marks his first year in office.
Glaring human rights record
The People’s Summit said in its report that the policies that spurred killings and other human rights violations have remained firmly in place.
Their report said that all domestic investigation mechanisms for both the Duterte and Marcos Jr administrations are “rendered ineffective and [are] used to window-dress the current dire human rights situation.”
They added that police directives in relation to former President Duterte’s war against illegal drugs that resulted in thousands of killings were not rescinded by Marcos Jr.
“Marcos Jr. has neither issued a categorical statement ordering a stop to the killings,” the report said, saying there were at least 300 drug-related killings under the administration’s first 11 months in office, according to data from the UPD Third World Studies Program.
The current administration also continued the counterinsurgency programs of Duterte, resulting in the killing of activists, farmers, and indigenous peoples, among other sectors.
Cristina Palabay, secretary-general of human rights group Karapatan, said that they documented at least one extrajudicial killing per week under the Duterte administration. She also noted that Marcos Jr is the first post-EDSA president who did not initiate peace talks with the National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP). “They said that Marcos Jr sounds less vulgar than Duterte. But the problem is that he also has no public pronouncements yet, particularly on human rights though he has Sara to do that for him. However, his (human rights) record will speak for itself.” This, she said, is more dangerous as the cumulative effects of impunity persist.
The groups also noted the criminal neglect that the Filipino people were subjected to as Marcos Jr failed to mitigate the impacts of climate change and the effect of mining and reclamation on the lives of ordinary folk.
Addressing poverty?
In the report of the People’s Summit’s economic cluster, the government failed to take substantial immediate and medium-term measures “to essentially lower prices nor for the people to cope with inflation.”
“The President himself kept mum on the issue of wage increase and did not declare any wage hike proposal as priority legislation despite clamor from the ranks of workers, the larger public, and even some legislators,” the report read.
As it stands, the Philippines has the highest income inequality in East Asia with the “wealthiest one percent of earners capture 17 percent of national income; all those in the bottom 50 percent collectively receive only 14 percent,” based on a World Bank report.
IBON Foundation observed that the government’s own data reveal that the average monthly nominal minimum wage ($168) is way below the country’s monthly poverty threshold ($228).
The People’s Summit, meanwhile, reported that the people’s access to social services remains limited. They noted that the budget for cash assistance decreased by 99.78 percent from P233 billion ($4.2 billion) in 2020 to P510 million ($9.2 million) this year.
Agriculture, manufacturing
Groups said the Marcos Jr. administration is far from achieving lower prices of food, stressing that importation of rice and other agricultural products continues instead of strengthening local production.
“The increased agriculture budget has not translated to the well-being of farmers nor the improvement of the agriculture sector,” the People’s Summit report said.
The budget for the agriculture department which Marcos Jr. heads increased from P5.6 billion ($101.2 million) in 2022 to P5.9 billion ($106.7 million) in 2023.
Under the Marcos Jr administration, the country imported 3.8 million metric tons of rice in 2022. This, according to the People’s Summit, is considered a “record-high” as import dependency increased from 18.5 percent in 2021 to 38 percent last year.
Meanwhile, farmers have incurred estimated losses amounting to P260 billion from 2019 to 2023.
The group noted that the manufacturing sector is also in dire straits under the Marcos Jr administration, given its lowest share in the country’s economy and total employment (from 10.0 percent to 7.9 percent in 2022). This is the case even if half of the country’s foreign direct investments largely went to the manufacturing sector.
As of April 2023, the People’s Summit noted that there are about 2.3 million unemployed and 6.2 million underemployed. IBON Foundation, for its part, estimated that 35 million people (or 73 percent of the country’s total labor force) are in the informal economy.
“Despite the ballooning foreign debt that is about to reach P14 trillion, borrowing has not been directed to a significant job creation program and the building of self-reliant industries,” the report read.
Mispriorities, undemocratic governance
Instead of addressing the issues, the Marcos Jr administration instead pushed for the likes of Maharlika Investment Fund, which Rosario Guzman of IBON Foundation described as a “super pork” that will oil the machinery of the already wealthy families and big companies close to the administration.
The Marcos Jr administration also pushed for charter change during its first year in office. Palatino said that this may be easily revived as the administration enters its second year. This, he added, reflects the government’s continuing efforts to champion foreign interests.
Guzman also debunked government claims that the foreign trips of Marcos Jr will be beneficial to ordinary folk, stressing that this is a road show meant to paint a “fantastic picture” of the country’s economy. “But the reality is that the economy is slowing, which Marcos Jr must recognize.”
Rain Sindayen, who is part of the good governance cluster of the People’s Summit, added that the foreign trips also aim to rehabilitate the Marcos family before the international community amid reports of rampant violations of human rights and the international humanitarian law.
He described the Marcos Jr. administration as undemocratic, with “patronage over competence” as basis for appointing government officials.
During the media briefing, Palatino announced that they will hold a big mass action in time for the second State of the Nation Address of Marcos Jr next month. A sizable amount of delegates, he added, is expected to come from the workers who have been pushing for priority legislation for increased wages and better living conditions. (DAA) 
