Alliance of Concerned Teachers Rep. France Castro. (FILE PHOTO)
MANILA, Philippines — ACT Teachers Representative France Castro and peasant group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) denounced the current administration for neglecting the needs of Filipino working-class citizens during its first year and instead promoting the interests of wealthy individuals and industries.
Castro, on Thursday, said President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. continues to “focus on prioritizing the interests of the rich and his cronies, while the majority of Filipinos continue to suffer from high inflation, low wages, and deteriorating social services.”
“Despite the urgent needs of the Filipino people, we see that out of the 31 priority legislations of President Marcos Jr., only two will directly benefit the marginalized,” said the House deputy minority leader.
Castro was referring to the Agrarian Reform Debts Condonation and the Magna Carta for Barangay Health Workers, lamenting that the other 29 measures “seem to cater to the interests of his cronies and serve to maintain the status quo.”
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“We urge President Marcos Jr. to focus on legislations that address the pressing concerns of the people, such as salary increases for workers, nurses, teachers, and government employees,” asserted the teacher solon.
“Additionally, the allocation of an equivalent of 6% of the GDP to education and the provision of free land to our farmers should be top priorities. These are the needs of the people, not new taxes or the Maharlika Investment Fund,” she added, decrying the controversial fund that, despite heavy flak, was recently passed in Congress.
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KMP concurred with the legislator’s criticism of Marcos Jr. for not offering enough government funding to tackle poverty among farmers, who remain some of the poorest individuals in the country, despite the Philippines being a largely agricultural nation
“The Marcos Jr administration’s budget continued to be mis-prioritized for big-business infrastructure, debt servicing, and defense, and failed to allocate for genuine economic and social development,” said KMP chairperson Rafael Mariano in a statement.
“There has been no substantial aid or ayuda for Filipino producers, especially the poorest farmers, and fisherfolk,” added the former agrarian reform chief.
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Mariano said that despite the government’s increase in the agriculture budget, there has not been any evident improvement in the sector. He also mentioned that the Rice Industry Development Act and the Genuine Agrarian Reform Bill are still pending in Congress.
The peasant alliance also flagged a Wednesday statement by the Department of Agriculture (DA)— of which Marcos Jr. concurrently sits as secretary— that the Philippines’ rice supply is sufficient for the nation’s needs for the third quarter of 2023.
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KMP highlighted that the country’s rice supply is still heavily import-dependent, recounting that the DA projected local rice prices to spike to P50 per kilo within the year.
“Marcos Jr. is far from achieving his populist campaign promise to lower rice prices to ₱20 per kilo. We have only seen rice price surges in the past year. Worse, the government has continued relying on the importation of other common agricultural items instead of strengthening domestic production to provide the people’s and country’s food needs,” said Mariano.
“Marcos Jr has persistently neglected farmers’ pleas to strengthen local agricultural production. Instead of strengthening the productive capacity of sectors to create sustainable jobs, the Marcos government hyped improved employment numbers without caring to address burgeoning informality,” he added.
Marcos Jr. earlier said that he would grade himself “incomplete” for his first year in office, admitting his administration has much left to do in terms of addressing inflation and agricultural issues among others.
“We have to undo 30, 35, almost 40 years of neglect when it comes to the agricultural sector. And the agricultural sectors still occupy the most fundamental part of our economy,” he emphasized,” he said in a Thursday ambush media interview.
“And so yes, we have done a lot of growth, and we are beginning to see the systemic changes that are going to be part of the new bureaucracy. But there is still a long way to go,” Marcos added.