[asia-apec 1428] THE IMF & WB ARE KILLING THE FILIPINO PEOPLE

[BAYAN]

Statement of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN, New Patriotic Alliance)
on the  Junk IMF-WB! Junk Imperialist Globalization! Protests in Washington
DC. April 16, 2000

Attend the rallies in Manila (at the Central Bank) and at Washington DC
(Philippine Embassy and the IMF-WB Bldg.)!



THE IMF AND WB ARE KILLING THE FILIPINO PEOPLE

Last week, the Philippine Congress approved a power reform bill paving the
way for the privatization of  the National Power Corporation, a government
agency that manages the power industry and runs power plants and
distribution facilities all over the Philippines. Congressmen admitted that
the bill was railroaded due to intense pressure from the International
Monetary Fund (IMF) and foreign investors. Apparently, the IMF  threatened
to hold the release of $1.38 billion worth of fresh loans if the law was
not approved by the first half of this year.

Among the provisions of the bill is the government's assumption of
Napocor's gigantic 250 billion-peso debt to make the company attractive to
private, foreign investors. The Philippine government will have to impose
additional taxes to pay-off these debts. 

The IMF, the World Bank and the Paris Club just love the Philippines. After
all, it is one of their most consistent clients. It pays all its
obligations on time and agrees to every conditionality attached to any loan
package. 

In fact, the Philippines has been tied to the IMF's loan strings since
1962, ending up as one of the top 20 most indebted countries in the world
today. It has also undergone several IMF Structural Adjustment Programs
(SAPs) since 1979, making the Philippine economy one of the most
liberalized and deregulated in Southeast Asia.

At present, estimates of total foreign debt for the Philippines hovers at
$52 billion and growing. Many of these loans were contracted during the
Marcos dictatorship, and was used to fund the dictatorship's white
elephants and psuedo development projects, the main sources of the Marcos
family's fantastic ill-gotten wealth estimated at $10 billion.

The Filipino people continue to carry the burden of these fraudulent and
one-sided loans. At least 40% of  the national budget goes to debt
servicing, money which could otherwise have gone to much needed social
services, education and rural development programs. 
Until now, a decree issued during the Marcos dictatorship automatically
allocates tax money to the payment of these foreign loans. 

Aside from siphoning off much needed resources from the Philippines, the
IMF and WB, through their SAPs, have intensified the neocolonial pattern of
the local economy. The unbridled liberalization and deregulation of the
economy has made the country a virtual dumping ground of U.S. finished
goods and speculative capital. 

Like most Third World countries, the Philippines has become a place where
U.S., Japanese, German and other First World capitalists can hire
dirt-cheap labor and buy raw and semi-processed materials at a steal.
Thanks to heeded advice from the Bretton Woods sisters and the World Trade
Organization (WTO), the Philippines can now boast having one of the lowest
wage levels in Asia, with an 8 to12-hour day going for a little more than
$5. Unemployment is at 40%, with most workers having to work on a
contractual or part time basis. Farmers' income is at an all-time low, with
the market saturated by imported rice, corn, chicken, vegetables and fruits. 

Despite this, it is the low and middle-income Filipino who are heavily
taxed by the government, while big business and foreign monopolies enjoy a
plethora of tax incentives. Indeed, the Philippines is a paradise for
multinational corporations and foreign speculators. But it is hell for the
people. No wonder there is a civil war ongoing in the Philippines. And no
wonder there is a strong movement to oust Philippine President Joseph
Estrada from office. The people have simply had enough of the IMF-WB and
its puppets.The Filipino people join all other people's of the world in
saying "No to the IMF-WB! No to imperialist globalization!" ###