Joma Sison slams Arroyo for lying about the economic situation
Ruth de Leon Executive Director International Information Office National Democratic Front of the Philippines (NDFP)
December 31, 2007 Prof. Jose Maria Sison, chief
political consultant of the National Democratic Front of the
Philippines, slammed Gloria M. Arroyo for lying about the Philippine
economic situation by claiming that she is propelling the Philippines
to become a “first world country”.
Prof. Sison declared, “In utter subservience to the
US-dictated policy of “neoliberal” globalization, she has worked
against the line of national industrialization and genuine land reform
and has aggravated and deepened the agrarian, pre-industrial and
semi-feudal character of the Philippine economy. She has worsened the
backward and impoverished “third world” conditions of the Philippines.”
He explained further, “The US and other foreign monopoly
capitalists have collaborated with such local exploiters as the big
compradors, landlords and the corrupt bureaucrats represented by Arroyo
to denationalize the economy and prevent its industrial development
through the so-called liberalization of trade and investments, the
privatization of public assets and anti-social deregulation at the
expense of the working people, women, children and the environment.”
Prof. Sison said, “The Arroyo regime has misrepresented as
“development” the consumption- led and debt-ridden growth of the
economy. It has used domestic and foreign borrowing to finance and abet
the growing trade and budgetary deficits and to conjure the false
illusion of economic growth. It wastes public funds through overpriced
and graft-ridden infrastructure projects and the purely parasitic
expenditures for the military and bureaucracy.”
He observed, “The Philippine economy remains dependent on the
production of agricultural and mineral raw materials, which are being
exported at greater volume but at lower prices. At the same time,
agriculture has become lopsided, as production of staple food is
neglected and food products are dumped on the Philippines from abroad
under the policy of trade liberalization. Thus, the country has become
a net food importer.”
Prof. Sison stressed, “The low value-added semi-manufacturing
for re-export provides little net income because of transfer pricing
and the heavy amount of imported components. The large-scale export of
women and men (now more than 10 per cent of the population) as overseas
contract workers is the result of the worsening underdevelopment and
lack of job opportunities in the Philippines. It has become the biggest
source of foreign exchange income although at great social cost to the
country.”
He noted, “The Arroyo regime has deliberately raised the value
of the peso by grabbing and undervaluing the foreign exchange earnings
of the overseas contract workers, by increasing the foreign debt
through program and project loans and the sale of bonds in the
commercial market and by attracting portfolio investments, structured
dollar loans and Japanese yen in the carry trade.”
Prof. Sison averred, “The national debt keeps on increasing
because there is no real development base for reducing the trade and
budget deficits. The attempt of the regime to increase state revenues
has dismally failed because of the underdeveloped, bankrupt and
depressed condition of the real economy, the policy of trade
liberalization and the unbridled corruption that allows tax evasion and
raids on the treasury. To cover or reduce the revenue shortfalls, the
Arroyo regime has been auctioning off state assets to foreign vultures
in combination with local vultures who are cronies and close relatives
of the Arroyo couple.” ###
REFERENCE: Ruth De Leon Executive Director NDFP International Information Office Tel.: +31 30 2310431 Fax.: +31 84 7589930 Email: [email protected]
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