Bu-lat-lat (boo-lat-lat) verb: to search, probe, investigate, inquire; to unearth facts Volume IV, Number 21 June 27 - July 3, 2004 Quezon City, Philippines |
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 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 We want to know what you think of this article.
|
|