Bayan hits Aquino over ‘sham economic growth’

Renato Reyes Jr. INQUIRER.net FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—Militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan on Wednesday dubbed the celebration of the 115th year of Philippine Independence Day as “sham independence and sham economic growth” under the Aquino administration.

This statement came after government data showed that unemployment rate in the country is at a three-year high despite claims of a 7.8 percent GDP growth for the first quarter of the year.

“Under the Aquino regime, we have a lethal combination of sham independence and sham development. Despite the repeated claims of economic growth, our people remain mired in crisis. The chronic joblessness is just one of the problems created by our lack of economic sovereignty,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.

Reyes also said President Benigno Aquino III “has gone the way of the absurd” for citing “a “weather-dictated delay in this year’s planting season” as an excuse for the “temporary” job loss.

“Aquino should stop blaming it on the weather because the dire economic situation remains his regime’s responsibility. This one is on him. Three years of the foreign-dictated conditional cash transfer, export-oriented growth, labor export policy and the neo-liberal Public Private Partnership have resulted in more poverty and more unemployment,” Reyes said.

The militant leader also scored the government for its “perpetual dependence” on US military aid that comes in the form of hand-me-down weapons and equipment.

“The reason why the Philippines cannot defend its territorial integrity, and why we have no credible minimum defense posture, is because our government has been dependent on the US for the last half-century. Even in military matters, we continue to be dictated on by the US. This, along with the absence of economic development, has prevented the country from effectively building the capacity for external defense,” Reyes said.

For instance, he cited the second warship of the Philippine Navy as “a refurbished Hamilton class cutter” that “hails from the Vietnam War era.”

“It is a naval hand-me-down meant to show the supposed benefits of a lopsided Mutual Defense Treaty with the US,” he added.