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Volume IV,  Number 21              June 27 - July  3, 2004            Quezon City, Philippines


 





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A Tumultuous Presidency

Like her predecessor, ousted president Joseph Estrada, newly proclaimed President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is facing mass protests even before the June 30 inauguration. Militant groups warn she would be facing public indignation all throughout her term.

BY ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
Bulatlat.com

A few days before her inauguration, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo faces angry protests arising from questions on the credibility of the polls and the added economic burdens that the people have suddenly had to bear in their wake. Nationally-coordinated protest actions will greet her inauguration on June 30.

Last June 23, some 500 members of various cause-oriented groups under the umbrella of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or New Patriotic Alliance) staged a rally near Mendiola Bridge, which leads to the presidential palace, to protest poll fraud and violence and the recent increases in electricity rates and the prices of petroleum products.

This was followed two days later by a noise barrage at the Welcome Rotonda, which is the boundary between Manila and Quezon City. Initiated by the broad poll watchdog and people’s advocacy group Patriots, the noise barrage counted 5,000 participants. While centering on what Patriots called “the proclamation of a president without a genuine mandate from the people,” the noise barrage also took shots at what the demonstrators described as the anti-people policies of the Macapagal-Arroyo administration.

Proclamation blues

Congress proclaimed Macapagal-Arroyo as the winner of the 2004 presidential election, amid concerns on poll fraud and violence, at dawn last June 24.

But there had been questions on the credibility of the May 10 election even before the three-month campaign period started. Macapagal-Arroyo had made last-minute appointments to the Commission on Elections (Comelec), among them Virgilio Garcillano whose name was dragged in the 1995 dagdag-bawas (vote-padding and vote-shaving) operation.

Macapagal-Arroyo had also been assailed by critics, among them constitutionalists, for allegedly using government money for her campaign. This came, they said, in the form of advertisements of government agencies carrying her name and pictures during the campaign period.

Senatorial bet Frank Chavez of the Alyansa ng Pag-asa (Alliance of Hope) had recently revealed in a documentary, Stealing the 2004 Elections, that Macapagal-Arroyo had used some P15 billion ($267.86 million based on a $1:P56 exchange rate) in government funds for her campaign. Chavez’s claim appears to be corroborated by recent reports from the newspaper Today, based on interviews from government sources, disclosing that the government is currently suffering from a deficit of P12.7 billion ($226.79 million) – having experienced cash outflows, so said the interviewees, weeks before the election.

The use of government funds for electoral campaigns is prohibited by law. Lawyer Ferdinand Rafanan, former Comelec public information officer, was relieved from his post and reassigned to Mindanao after saying that Macapagal-Arroyo could be disqualified from the presidential race for channeling government money to her campaign and pointing to election law violations she allegedly committed.

In the minority report he delivered in Congress’ plenary session last June 23, Sen. Aquilino Pimentel, Jr. of the Koalisyon ng Nagkakaisang Pilipino (KNP or Coalition of United Filipinos) said that in Mindanao, based on election returns and certificates of canvass, the votes of KNP presidential bet Fernando Poe, Jr. were reduced by 381,384, while Macapagal-Arroyo’s were padded by 168,656.

While he said that these votes by themselves would not be enough to offset Macapagal-Arroyo’s 1.1-million lead over Poe, he also noted: “The fact, however, is that these votes added to the accurate entries of the Election Returns in the questioned areas of Cebu, Iloilo, Bohol and Pampanga, and specifically in the municipalities of Del Carmen, Taganaan, Libjo, and Surigao City in Surigao del Norte; Magallanes in Agusan del Norte; Ozamiz City; Padre Burgos in Southern Leyte; Kabugao in Apayao; Sta. Rita in Batangas; Tuba in Benguet; and Toboso and Calatrava in Negros Occidental would certainly have altered the results of the election for president.”

He also said that based on the KNP’s “rough estimates,” Poe would have won in the presidential race by some 510,000 votes. This is not too far from Chavez’s estimate that the KNP presidentiable actually won over Macapagal-Arroyo by 800,000 votes.

“Anti-people” policies

While Macapagal-Arroyo is apparently fated to face questions on the credibility of her victory for the rest of her term, it also seems she would not be enjoying the traditional “honeymoon” period enjoyed by newly-elected presidents. This refers to a brief period when the public and media refrain from dishing out criticisms, apparently to give the new president time to find her bearing.

This early, Macapagal-Arroyo has had to confront public protests stemming from increases in power rates and oil prices.

She promised during the campaign period that she would make Philippine power rates the lowest in Southeast Asia. At present, it is Laos that enjoys the lowest Southeast Asian power rates, amounting to P1.54 ($0.03) per kilowatt hour (kwh). Philippine power rates average P6 ($0.11)/kwh.

But with the recent Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approval of the Lopez-owned Meralco petition for a P0.1327 ($0.0024)/kwh increase, which will take effect this July, power consumers’ hopes for lower rates have dimmed.

That hope is further dimmed by the ERC’s recent announcement that it had also approved an increase in Napocor’s generation charge, amounting to a national average of P2.1047 ($0.0375). The increase will take effect after July.

Putting the two increases together, power consumers are now bracing for an increase of more than P100 ($1.78) in their monthly bills, a big burden considering that at present most Filipino families live on only P250 ($4.46) everyday, even as based on an October 2003 study by the socio-economic think tank IBON Foundation, a family of six (or the average Filipino family) needs some P546 ($9.75) to survive daily. IBON used data from the government’s National Wages and Productivity Board in its study.

IBON and the cause-oriented groups under Bayan’s umbrella have also condemned the recent wave of increases in the prices of petroleum products. Oil prices have gone up seven times this year alone, among these a P1 ($0.0178)/liter increase last May and a P0.90 ($0.016)/liter increase for June.

While government and the big oil companies (Petron, Shell, and Caltex), in justifying the latest oil price hikes, have been arguing that oil prices have increased in the world market, IBON noted in a statement posted June 17 on the website of QC Indymedia (http://qc.indymedia.org/) that oil companies in the Philippines had overpriced their products by some P0.16 ($0.0028)/liter from January to May, amounting to extra profits of P216 million ($3.86 million), of which P194 million ($3.46 million) went to Petron, Shell, and Caltex.

IBON computed the overpricing using the rule of thumb based on the movement of Dubai (United Arab Emirates) crude oil prices and the peso-dollar exchange rate. According to the think tank, “The rule of thumb or ROT for the downstream oil industry says that a one-dollar adjustment in Dubai crude prices affects local oil prices by 26 centavos. Similarly, a one-peso movement in the foreign exchange affects domestic oil prices by 13 centavos.” Dubai crude prices moved from $28.87/barrel to $34.74 from January to May, while during the same period the peso-dollar exchange slid from P55.55 to P55.83.

Inaugural protest

Bayan has announced that it will stage a protest to coincide with Macapagal-Arroyo’s inauguration on June 30.

The Promotion of Church People’s Response (PCPR), one of the allied organizations under Bayan, said in a statement last June 23: “On June 30, (Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo) is all set to be inaugurated as a bogus president while the people remain (deprived) of genuine democracy and prospects for a brighter future. GMA ignored the workers’ demand for a P125 across-the-board wage increase necessary for them to live decently, and did nothing to stop repeated oil price hikes. She continued to prioritize budgetary allocation for debt servicing at the expense of basic needs like water – now being bid out to the private sector – education, health and other social services. GMA and other members of her inner circle, especially ‘Jose Pidal,’ face serious corruption allegations and plunder charges, including the P700-million agricultural fund used for her campaign. GMA’s plunderous spending of public funds for her campaign further condemns the whole nation to bankruptcy and indebtedness. We can only expect more of the same betrayal and corruption from her term of office.”

For his part, Bayan spokesperson Renato Reyes, Jr.  said in a statement last June 21 that “No matter where Macapagal-Arroyo plans to hold her inauguration, there will be mass protests waiting for her. That is a certainty. Macapagal-Arroyo will have to contend with public outrage all throughout her term.” Bulatlat.com

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