Bayan on Noy's 4th SONA: 'Recycled rhetoric'

MANILA, Philippines - Militant groups will once again converge on July 22 along Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City to protest the unfulfilled promises of President Benigno Aquino III as he delivers his 4th State of the Nation Address before Congress.

For the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan), umbrella group of several militant organizations, said it has been a dismal year for the Aquino administration in terms of economy, peace talks, human rights, and delivery of basic services to the public.

"A dismal performance despite claims of economic growth. What is very revealing is that the surveys point to rising unemployment, poverty and you can see the continuous rise in prices," Bayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes Jr. said when asked to rate President Aquino’s performance for the past three years.

Reyes also complained against the impending increases in water and electricity rates and the Metro Rail Transit and Light Rail transit fares.

He said that the inclusive growth being boasted by the current administration has not been felt by the masses amid the rising unemployment rate in the country.

"So you have rising prices amid a situation of a chronic unemployment. So those are the reasons why the claims of economic growth [of the Aquino administration] did not really catch on because it's far from the true situation of the people. The whole idea that wealth would trickle down, that is a discredited notion," Reyes said.

"What we're seeing is that the gap between the rich, the super rich and the poor continues to broaden so [the administration's claim that the economic growth would] trickle down is just a big illusion," he added.

He also cited that the migration problem has become "severe" because of the lack of new jobs in the country.

"We can see that unemployement now is higher than it was three years ago, when he first took office. Migration is more severe. More people are going abroad to work today. It's around 4,000 per day," Reyes said.

Failed GMA prosecution

Reyes also gave President Aquino a failing mark when it comes to prosecuting former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, who had just won her reelection as representative of the 2nd District of Pampanga despite being under hospital arrest.

"When he took office, he promised accountability for the crimes of GMA and cohorts. Many of the whistleblowers are increasingly disillusioned with the government because it does not pursue the big cases," he said.

Reyes also noted that the Aquino administration has a knack for being "selective" in going after unscrupulous government officials in line with its "tuwid na daan"  principle.

"We have all these 'pabaon' generals. The cases against them were dismissed by the Ombudsman who was appointed by the President. Their going after corrupt officials is selective, when it suits them. They went after (former) Chief Justice (Renato) Corona because it suits them, but they lack seriousness [when going after] other cases... it's more rhetoric," he added.

Reyes also cited the case of former military general Jovito Palpalran, who has turned fugitive after a local court in Bulacan province issued an arrest warrant against him for the disappearance of University of the Philippines students Sherlyn Cadapan and Karen Empeño.

"Mayroong lack of zeal, indifference in going after human rights violators. Palparan remains at large, for example," he said.

Peace talks, VFA

Reyes also slammed the government for abandoning the peace talks with the communist groups.

"The abandonment of the peace process will spawn more human rights abuses because the main tack of the government is to pursue their counter-insurgency programs and other mechanism for committing another human rights violation," he said.

He said that President Aquino also reneged on his commitment to have the controversial Visiting Forces Agreement reviewed.

"Noynoy made a very specific commitment to review the VFA he made an inter agency panel pero  apparently walang nangyayari.

"There was a Supreme Court order for the government to review certain provisions in the VFA, which did not happen. I think dahil nga ginagamit na dahilan itong China na merong threat sa China so we cannot touch the VFA dahil magagalit yung mga Amerikano," he said.

'Recycled rhetoric'

On the economic side, Reyes said the Aquino administration's Public-Private Partnership project is the same dog with a different collar as it is only another name for privatization.

"PPP hindi naman sya bago eh. Binigyan lang nila ng pangalan. It is simply privatization, BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer), BLT (Build-Lease-Transfer) hindi na siya bago. Yung water privatization is a fine example of PPP," he said.

Reyes scored the Aquino government's conditional cash transfer (CCT) program, which, he said, is just a spinoff of the previous administration's dole out program for the poor families in the country.

Despite the billions of pesos spent for the CCT program, Reyes said the government has yet to truly address the widespread poverty.

"Wala naman talagang malaking pagbabago at saka parang wala ring ipagmamalaki...kahit yung credit rating upgrade hindi naman yung nag-a-appeal sa ordinaryong tao dahil hindi nagta-translate necessarily sa jobs, economic activity at economic development," Reyes said.

He said that the people should not expect new from the chief executive, but "recycled rhetoric" in his 4th SONA.

"What we expect is the recycling of the rhetoric which already happened last year. Okay babalik pa rin ba tayo sa wang-wang? Isisisi ba n'ya lahat kay GMA? Midterm na niya ito eh. Hindi na niya puwedeng isisi kay Gloria 'yung mga problema na kinakaharap natin . Ikaw na ang nagpapatakbo sa gobyerno," he said. "He has to be accountable to the people kaya nga yung protest, paniningil sa Pangulo, demanding accountability for three years."