Marcos II’s christmas gifts for the Filipino masses are nothing but price hikes

This article is available in Pilipino

Another year is almost done, but the Filipino people’s problems still have no end in sight. Another series of price hikes for basic commodities add to the masses’ onuses. Take for example, the price of a single onion reaches P30 while a kilo of chilli pepper costs more than beef. Worse, this problem comes along with workers’ paltry wages, nonstop oil price hikes and numerous dues and additional taxes.

The intensification of crisis that the country currently suffers from is due to the long-standing servility of the Philippine government towards imperialist institutions such as the IMF-World Bank. This caused the further deterioration of local industries and over-reliance on importation of surplus products from foreign countries. Because of these conditions, the country lost its capacity to control the prices of commodities and became vulnerable to various maneuvers, artificial shortages and other schemes of cartes and capitalists.

Bongbong Marcos is inept in the face of the national economic crisis he inherited. He turns a blind eye towards the people’s sufferings. He goes on with his state visits to traffic Filipino workers and their cheap labor. Meanwhile he has done nothing to concretely provide relief against price hikes and decline of the Filipino masses’ livelihoods. His christmas gift to the nation are nothing but worsening destitution and hunger.

In the wake of all this, the Filipino people’s defense remains to be their unity and mobilization. They must continue expanding the mass movement that pushes those in power to take action against the ceaseless increase of prices. More than this, they must call for long-term and sustainable solutions against the ever-present crisis that the people endure.

Marcos II’s christmas gifts for the Filipino masses are nothing but price hikes