According to recent news reports, the Philippine government’s debt stock has risen to a record high of ₱14.35 trillion as of end of August, or around ₱150,000 debt for every Juan and Maria. Marcos Jr is following the same economic plan of his dictator father Marcos Sr under which Philippine debt ballooned by 4,300% between 1965-1986.

The Marcos regime is burying the country deeper in debt. More than 40% of the 2024 budget (P2.46 trillion of ₱5.678 trillion) will be raised by Marcos by borrowing more money. This simply means the country is borrowing money to pay for old debt.

The NEDA revealed that last year, the country borrowed $30 billion from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank and other banks, more than $20 billion of which went to corruption-ridden infrastructure projects. The country is borrowing more and more money to fund the brazen corruption of the Marcoses, their jetsetting, secret and confidential funds, and unremitted spending for the military and police.

The Philippine economy is on a free-fall and set to dive into recession, amid the global capitalist crisis. It is not creating enough jobs and value. Productive forces in agriculture and manufacturing are being ruined by Marcos’ neoliberal policies. The country is increasingly dependent on imports, while unmitigated imports further destroy the backward, agrarian and non-industrial economy.

Workers suffer from extremely low wages. The broad masses of peasants and semiproletariat are being economically marginalized as they are dispossessed of their land and sources of income. Political repression has intensified amid heightened economic oppression. The Filipino people have no other option but to unite and fight for their economic rights.