People unite in the midst of the current crisis

Jorge "Ka Oris" Madlos
Spokesperson
NDF-Mindanao
September 12, 2004

We are not simply facing a fiscal crisis, but rather a political and economic crisis worse than the 1972 crisis that led to Martial Law and worse than the 1986 crisis that led to the EDSA uprising that ousted Marcos. This is also more severe than the1997 Asian financial crisis and the 2001 crisis that led to another EDSA uprising that booted out Estrada. These are chronic crises prior to the total collapse of our semi-feudal and semi-colonial society. These crises keeps on recurring evermore viciously for as long as our economy is beholden to US imperialist and its local puppets' self-interest, and the government is run by puppet bureaucrats, the likes of Arroyo.

The reactionary government is bankrupt. But worse than this, the productive labor power of our workers and farmers are greatly diminished due to ever increasing exploitation and oppression most severe since the late 1960s. Over 5 million are unemployed nationwide. The workers are shackled to a living standard and real wage lower than 30 years ago. Our peasant masses are mired ever more to feudal bondage through excessive land rent and a new round of re-concentration of land to big landlords and to large scale expansion of agribusiness, specially in Mindanao.

The people are ever more burdened by skyrocketing prices of oil, electricity, water, food, and other goods and services, low prices of farmers' products, rapacious taxation, high interest rate and others. Of the 4.5 million families nationwide who do not have enough food on their table, 1.4 million families are in Mindanao. Nineteen provinces in Mindanao are among the 44 poorest provinces in the whole country.

Our agriculture is tied to backwardness and we are prevented from acquiring heavy industry to keep us dependent on imperialist products while keeping us net exporter of our fast depleted natural resources.

The current P200 billion budget deficit is mainly due firstly, to the mandatory debt payment amounting to 60% of the annual budget. Secondly, the remainder is subject to 30-40% of all sorts of graft and corruption, leaving but crumbs for social services and development. Thirdly, imperialist companies and filthy rich businessmen continue to evade paying taxes. Lucio Tan alone owes P28 billion for non-payment of taxes. And lastly, due to government over spending, specially GMA's billions of pesos desperate election spending to buy her way to victory.

The US-GMA regime can not stave off the crisis. More borrowings will sink us deeper. Senator Recto said that in the last two decades our economy is growing at an average rate of 10.5%, as compared to 23% average growth rate of the country's debt. Radical reduction of government workers invites dissent, forget the promised 6-10 million jobs and the supposed windfall income from overseas workers in Iraq. Tax overburden will isolate GMA the more. The first family's lavish China trip exposes Gloria's hypocrisy. De Venecia's fund raising campaign is mere propaganda, insignificant to solve their financial woes.

The fund campaign initiated by CBCP Pres. Archbishop Capalla and well-meaning groups and individuals offers moral support and temporary relief, but not enough "panawid gutom". Such laudable effort should help explain the real cause of our economic hardship and lend support to the intensifying people's struggle for social justice against the real culprit - the US-GMA regime.

The peak of the crisis has yet to come. Extreme deprivation pushes the people's struggle to a new height. Opposition parties will rally around the people's popular demands. Scarce "spoils" for grabs creates cracks even within the GMA factions. Recent SWS survey shows GMA increasingly isolated. The regime's response to this looming polarization is repression. Martial law is not a remote possibility, but it is even less remote that Gloria, like Erap, will be ousted in another popular uprising.

The future is not that bleak at all. From within this rotting semi-feudal and semi-colonial society a new social order shall rise through a revolutionary process. A genuine land reform shall be completed and a national industrialization shall end our dependence upon foreign products. At the moment, hundreds of thousands of the peasant masses in the countryside are now enjoying the benefits of the initial land reform along side the emergence of the revolutionary government run by the people themselves and protected by the New People's Army. Peace and order, health, education and other social services are being attended to.

To those hardest hit by the current crisis, the underpaid workers and jobless in the cities, we suggest that they go back to farming in the countryside. At least the peasants can reduce the exploitative impact of imperialist globalization and achieve a certain degree of self-sufficiency by reverting to organic farming and minimize high-yielding yet high-cost and destructive to man and environment production.

We need a unity of will. Let us have a collective understanding of the truth regarding the current crisis, its root causes and its long term solution. The workers and peasants must unite. They must unite with the students and middle income strata, including all patriotic citizens in exposing and opposing the exploitative and repressive policies of the US-GMA regime and in finding long term solutions.

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