Special Purpose Assets Vehicle: Pushing the Philippines deeper in to the morass of neocolonialism

Basahin ang artikulong ito sa Pilipino

One of the proposed bills currently being rushed in congress is the Special Purpose Assets Vehicle (SPAV) which aims to further privatize public economic assets and denationalize the country's economy. It also aims to circumvent the constitutional provision against land ownership in the Philippines by foreign investors.

If the SPAV is enacted, the government will organize a corporation that will purchase and administer the nonperforming assets of banks that have been foreclosed from individuals and corporations that have defaulted on their debts.

Through this law, foreigners will be allowed to buy these properties, including real estate, at bargain prices. This would require an amendment of the government constitution to do away with the provision banning foreigners from acquiring land. Foreign investors will also be given incentives, including tax exemptions.

If signed into law, the SPAV will be one of the most barefaced instruments for further deepening the Philippine neocolonial rut. That the ruling regime has put forward this bill is a desperate measure in the face of a gross lack of resources for running the national government and funding showcase projects which are supposed to pump-prime the economy. The national government seriously lacks funds due to the slump in overall production; tightening of foreign credit in the past years; slowdown in dollar remittances by OCWs; and the depletion of state assets ever since these were auctioned off wholesale starting 1992.

December 2001
English Edition

	Editorial: A year of hardships and ruthlessness for the people
	National Economic Summit: Furthering fascism and tightening the neocolonial stranglehold on the Philippines
	Special Purpose Assets Vehicle: Pushing the Philippines deeper in to the morass of neocolonialism
	The National Budget of 2002: Funds for fascism and puppetry
	Economic crisis: Some significant statistics
	Trickery with unemployment statistics
	Recession in the US, Japan and Germany: Crisis in the centers of capitalism
	Danding and the coco levy funds: Cojuangco shows he is still the master under the Macapagal-Arroyo regime
	SMC-Kirin Agreement: Cojuangco's maneuvers to maintain control over SMC
	The biggest case in the history of the puppet republic: Danding seizes lands in Isabela
	Reports from Correspondents: Agrarian revolution reaps gains in Isabela
	Reports from Correspondents: Ka Haren and Ka Baste: Revolutionary heroism in the face of the enemy
	Reports from Correspondents: On the status of the POWs in Far South Mindanao
	Fascist state on a rampage: People's travails in 11 months of militarization
	With full US imperialism support: Israel intensifies attacks on Palestinians
	Due to grave crisis: Uprising erupts in Argentina
	News