Anakbayan protests PH’s hosting of World Economic Forum

We condemn the Aquino administration for hosting the World Economic Forum (WEF). The administration set aside P71 million to host the WEF—an insult to the toiling masses suffering under the Aquino administration.

The WEF is not really a forum about development; it is a forum for the advancement of the neoliberal agenda. It endorses the anti-Filipino Charter change and Asean integration. The WEF as a neoliberal forum encourages economic policies that trample on worker’s rights, champion wage rollback and the removal of environmental restrictions. It would allow foreign capitalists to take control of vast tracts of lands in the Philippines. The agenda of the WEF will preserve the semi-feudal and semi-colonial status of the Philippines by pushing privatization, denationalization, deregulation and the further intensification of the import-dependent export-oriented scheme.

The “Philippine miracle” that the Aquino administration is boasting about is nothing but a hollow development. Speculation in the construction of condominiums and office spaces, plus the large inflow of foreign portfolio capital into the local financial market, make up this miracle. The Aquino administration should stop boasting about the growth of the Philippine bubble economy. As soon as the number of unsold residential units and empty office spaces increases, and financing programs become more restrictive and less available, this bubble economy will burst and create an economic

crisis.

The growth that the administration is proud of is an economic growth that only the rich and powerful enjoy. While the Aquino administration celebrates this

hollow growth, the Filipino masses mourn because of widespread unemployment, low wages and price hikes, landlessness, commercialization of education and the lack of basic social services.

The Filipino people don’t need lavish events about and celebrations of an economic growth that they don’t even feel. What the Filipino people need is a government that will serve the people instead of the ruling elite and their foreign partners.

—VENCER CRISOSTOMO,

national chair, Anakbayan,

[email protected]