A tentacle of the US
US directly meddles in the Philippine economy through AGILE
Concrete evidence recently exposed to the public shows the depth and breadth of US government intervention in the Philippines' internal economic affairs.
This February, expos�s indicated that the US maintains personnel and offices in important economic departments and agencies through AGILE (Accelerating Growth, Investment and Liberalization with Equity). Attending even to the finest details, it is AGILE that ensures in behalf of the US, that the needed laws and economic programs in the Philippines that would make it hew to the policy of imperialist "globalization" are enacted.
AGILE is a program formally begun in 1998 with the goal of implementing laws and policies pushed by the US for the all-out liberalization of the Philippine economy. It was set up by Development Alternatives, Inc. (DAI), an American company that has long been closely associated with the US government and whose specialty is pushing pro-US "government reforms" in various countries. To implement the AGILE project in the Philippines, DAI received $41.2 million from the US Agency for International Development. US Ambassador Francis Ricciardone serves as the local coordinator for DAI projects in the Philippines. AGILE likewise connives with other agencies that are also tentacles of US imperialism, such as the Asia Foundation, Center for Research and Communications and Foundation for Economic Freedom. All US-funded, these entities are likewise known fronts and lairs of the US Central Intelligence Agency's agents in the Philippines.
AGILE has offices inside important government executive departments and agencies, including the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas.
Its 99-strong personnel planted in these offices serve as the brains behind bills, laws and policies pushed by these departments and agencies that have significant bearing on the course of the country's economy, especially with respect to the liberalization of trade and investments. AGILE also has people who focus on Congress and the Senate to ensure that bills in the Philippines pushed by the US are passed into law. AGILE grants and arranges large "financial assistance packages" for the programs and projects of government officials it wishes to "win over."
Under AGILE's guidance, the reactionary government's most important measures in the last two to three years were enacted and implemented, including the General Banking Act of 2000, Electric Power Industry Reform Act, Retail Trade Liberalization Act, Securities Regulations Code, Electronic Commerce Law, Customs Valuation Law, Judicial Reform Project, Special Purpose Assets Vehicle and the Air Transport Agreement, among others. All of these laws furthered the liberalization of the economy.
AGILE has also gone all-out in pushing the privatization of government agencies. It is behind the abolition of the National Food Authority and the elimination of tariffs on agricultural products in accordance with GATT and WTO provisions. It is also the main proponent of the abolition of the Bureau of Internal Revenue and replacing it with the National Authority for Revenue Administration.
AGILE was also involved in drafting and pushing the Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA). The US has been demanding AMLA's implementation ostensibly to freeze terrorist funds. It aims to grant the government sweeping authority to look into any bank account it considers suspicious, in violation of existing policies on the privacy of bank transactions.
That US imperialism directly intervenes through AGILE comes as no surprise. It likewise comes as no surprise to see the puppet government's mindless defense of AGILE. To save itself and avoid the people's greater loathing, Malaca�ang strains to make it appear that AGILE merely dishes out "advice" and conducts studies.
In the face of disclosures regarding the US' direct dictation of, and intervention in, Philippine laws and policies, Malaca�ang and Congress still insist that it is the government and not AGILE, that decides on legislation. This starkly illustrates even further the puppetry of the reactionary state.
All of this confirms what the Party and the revolutionary movement have been saying all along about the US' absolute neocolonial rule over the Philippines and about its government's being a mere puppet controlled by US imperialism. With current US intervention in the country's internal military and political affairs also brought to light, timely disclosures on AGILE's activities demonstrate how the US has been all-encompassing and unsparing in its intervention in all aspects of social life in the Philippines.
This all proves the correctness of, and the urgent need to, advance the revolutionary struggle to liberate ourselves from the clutches of US imperialism.
Partial list of agencies run by AGILE
- Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas
- Department of Finance
- Department of Budget and Management
- Department of Trade and Industry
- Securities and Exchange Commission
- Bureau of Internal Revenue
- Bureau of Customs
- Philippine Stock Exchange
- National Telecommunications Commission
- National Economic Development Authority
- Department of Transportation and Communications
- Department of Agriculture.
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