Transcript Privatization Issues and Options - National Anti

Waging the Bigger War:
Eradicating Mass Poverty
Dr. Rene E. Ofreneo
Professorial Lecturer
University of the Philippines
Eradicating poverty as a State duty
Constitution is quite clear -Art. II, Sec. 9 provides:
“The State shall promote a just and dynamic social order that will
ensure the prosperity and independence of the nation and free
the people from poverty through policies that provide adequate
social services, promote full employment, a rising standard of
living, and an improved quality of life for all.”
Ang tanong:
Nangyayari po ba ito?
Nitong nakaraang 6 na taon?
60 taon?
Phl proclaimed Asia’s growth leader,
Yet, mass poverty & joblessness persist
GDP ave. growth rate 2010-2015 – 6.2 %
But poverty incidence hardly changed
2006 – 26.6 % of population
2009 – 26.3 %
2012 – 25.2 %
(moreover, if poverty threshold of P52/day/pax
raised to P100 or so, every other Filipino poor)
Joblessness also reflected in ff.:
6.1 % unemployed (official)
18.5 % underemployed
8.1 % unpaid family workers
32.3 % working at less than 40 hours a week
Mass poverty & joblessness lead to
Severe & chronic social inequality!
According to World Bank (in 2011),
Bulk of country’s wealth – 76 per cent – went to only 40 Filipino
families
This continues today, with only a dozen companies cornering the
big-ticket public-private partnership projects in infrastructures
This also reaffirms earlier study of NSO Administrator Tomas
Africa that there was no major change in inequality in 1985-2009
1985 – top 1 % got 32% of national income
2009 – top 1 % got 30 % of national income
1985 – share of bottom 50%: 20%
2009 – share of bottom 50 %: 20%
Also, no major change in social inequality from 1960s-2000s
Faces of poverty and IS
“Walong Taon sa
Kariton” (8 years in
the push cart, taken
in 2012)
Kariton Households along
Kalayaan Ave., Quezon City
If you are poor,
you are not allowed here
So why is the Constitutional vision
and mandate not being fulfilled?
Hindi po naitatayo sa ating bansa ang isang “just and
dynamic social order”!
Anong mga dahilan?
Marami pong paliwanag, pero sa patakarang pangekonomiya, may dalawang mahahalagang dahilan.
First, the country’s macro-economics
is based on trickle-down economics
The macro-economic framework, based on the martiallaw development strategy of “labor-intensive exportoriented industrialization” (LIEO) and consolidated in
the 1980s and 1990s as “structural adjustment
program” (SAP), assumes that growth and jobs would
automatically flow from the triple policies of
-- trade/investment liberalization
-- deregulation of different economic sectors and
-- privatization of government assets,
corporations and services
This neo-liberal framework has been in place for over
four decades!
SAP continued by Post-EDSA 1 Administrations
Year
Program
1986
NEDA crafted a “yellow” Medium-Term Phl Devt Plan
celebrating EDSA People Power Revolt and yet,
continuing SAP
1990
“Updates” on MTPDP: towards deeper and broader
economic liberalization
1992
President Ramos MTPDP call for full liberalization
across sectors
1998
President Estrada’s MTPDP continued SAP
2004
President Arroyo’s 2004-2010 MTPDP supported SAP
continuity
2011
President Aquino’s PDP maintained same
macroeconomic framework
Mga kahinanaan ng LIEO/SAP-EOI neoliberal modeling
The model simplified economic realities by
simplifying solutions.
Una, sabi babaha ang FDI na lilikha ng maraming trabaho.
Di ito nangyari sapagkat pupunta ang FDI kung saan
sila higit na kikita (tulad ng China) batay sa kanilang
global value chains.
Ikalawa, lalakas daw ang local industry at agriculture.
Di ito nangyari bagkus nagbagsakan sa pagbaha ng mga
dayuhang kalakal at unfair trade, particular smuggling.
Ikatlo, magiging efficient daw ang palengke at lipunan.
Di ito nangyari sa halip anarkiya ang naghari tulad sa
trapik sapagkat walang maayos na mga plano (urban,
land, transport, atbp.
Industries that have collapsed
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•
Textile industry (from 250+ to 5)
Rubber industry
Foundry industry
Steel industry
Chemicals (organic and inorganic chemicals, fertilizers,
petrochemicals – includes upstream and downstream
products, dyeing, tanning and coloring materials)
• Shoes, Hides and Leather (handbags and belts, leather and
non-leather goods, travel goods, hat and other headgear)
• Wood and wood articles, pulp and paper
• Cement, ceramics, tiles , etc., etc.
-------------------Exports too (now you see, now you don’t):
Garments ( men’s and women’s wear, boy’s and girl’s wear,
baby wear) – from one million to > 100,000 workers
Toys, fashion accessories, footwear (rubber)
Agriculture stagnated
Under SAP’s agricultural deregulation, support for
agriculture abandoned in the 1980s
In the 1990s, commitment to WTO led to agricultural
tarrification.
WTO promise of 500,000 new jobs in agriculture, P3.2 billion
net export earnings and P60 billion value added a year never
happened. Instead from the mid-1990s to the present,
Philippines became a net agricultural importing country.
Smuggling, aggravated by corruption, wiped out livelihoods
of many farmers engaged in rice, corn, onion, etc.
Today, agriculture contributes less than 10 per cent of the
country’s GDP and yet, sector still accounts for 1/3 of total
employment. Outcomes: widespread poverty in the
countryside and rise of the huge army of landless rural poor.
Second, urong-sulong ang pamahalaan
sa mga repormang panglipunan
Ang CARP ay “comprehensive” nang inilagda noong 1988 pero
kaagad-agad nilagyan ng mga sagka:
CARP evasion schemes tulad ng SDO at leaseback arrangements
sa mga plantations, voluntary land transfer (usually to relatives
& friends), high (commercial) land compensation, slow
implementation, limited support services, corruption sa
bureaucracy, atbp.
Nabalaho din ang mga programa sa urban reform, fishery
reform, atbp.
Ikatlo, kulang ang decisiveness sa pagsusulong sa social
protection para sa lahat
Ilang mga panukala
One --- formal na pong iwanan ng pamahalaan ang
neo-liberal paradigm. Total, maraming bansa ay di
naman sumusunod sa ganitong framework.
Sa halip, dapat pong itulak ang isang programa para sa
– rebuilding ng industrial sector (kailangan dito ang
industrial vision and policy na maka-Pilipino at di
nakatingala sa mga dayuhan)
-- rebuilding ng agricultural sector (kailangan dito ang
tunay na repormang agraryo, pag-roll back sa SAP
program ng agricultural deregulation at makaPilipinong agricultural modernization)
Ilang panukala…
Two -- Ang Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) ay pwede pong
imantina bilang isang component ng mas malawak na programa
ng poverty reduction at social protection. Sa Brazil, noong
panahon ni President Lula, ang CCT ay bahagi ng anti-poverty
package na kasama ang rural industrialization, social insurance
coverage para sa mahirap, labor law coverage ng mga inpormal
at pagtataas ng rural minimum wages, among others.
In short, from social tokenism, aakyat tayo sa empowerment of
the poor.
Siyempre, dapat laging magkatambal ang CCT at guaranteed
jobs sapagkat walang dignidad ang tao kung walang trabaho.
Ilang …
Ikatlo, ang Social Protection program para sa lahat ay dapat
may maliwanag na alokasyon sa badyet sang-ayon sa bagong
macro-economic framework.
Sa ngayon, 32 per cent lang ang sakop ng social security. Mataas
ang health insurance coverage, 92 per cent, pero alam natin
limited ang benepisyo sapagkat limited ang health facilities at
gastos na pwedeng i-cover ng Philhealth.
Dapat tulungan ang mga walang kakayahang magbayad ng
insurance premium sa SSS, either may government counterpart
or full government subsidy.
Ilang (4) …
Ikaapat, dapat i-review ang privatization program at ang
bagong mukha nito sa hugis ng PPP. Bakit walang partnership
sa infrastructure development na kasama ang mga magsasaka,
manggagawa o maliliit na contractor? Bakit puro big-ticket
infras na pinag-aagawan ng isang dosenang malalaking
korporasyon? Bakit walang infra development sa mga urban
poor and rural poor communities? Bakit pati mga basic services
tulad ng ospital at eskwelahan ay ipinapasok sa privatization?
Nasaan ang public-poor partnership?
Ang isang dapat isagawa nationwide ay public-poor partnership
para isaayos ang mga community centers (multi-purpose) sa
lahat ng poor communities.
Ilang (5) …
Ikalima, building the economy requires total mobilization of all
sectors of society. Di dapat umaasa lang sa mga malalaking
investors, dayuhan man o local.
Mahalaga ang mobilization sa savings at talino ng mga OFWs,
mga middle-class families, mga tech-savvy na millennials, mga
maliliit na negosyante, mga magsasaka at manggagawang
nakakaangat na, atbp. Dito dapat katuwang sa mobilization ang
mga paaralan at may kakayahang mamahagi na kaalaman sa
paghahanap-buhay. Gayundin ang mga CSO at PO na
bumubuo sa tinatawag na ikatlong sector, na pwedeng manguna
sa pagtatayo ng solidarity economy na nagtataguyod ng tunay na
damayan, bayanihan at tangkilikan ng mga Pilipinong
nagmamahal sa kapwa Pilipino.
Ilang (6) …
Ikaanim, full empowerment of the poor by giving them a voice
in governanqce.
-- isabatas ang freedom of association for all, formal at
informal. Ipasa ang Magna Carta for Workers in the Informal
Economy.
-- institutionalize people’s consultation, dialogue and
participation in all levels of governance and participation of the
people in the implementation of socio-economic programs.
Sa huli, dapat balikan natin ang isa pang
probisyon ng Saligang Batas bilang giya:
Art. XII, Sec. 1
“The goals of the national economy are a more equitable
distribution of opportunities, income and wealth…
“The State shall promote industrialization and full employment
based on sound agricultural development and agrarian reform,
through industries that make full and efficient use of human and
natural resources…
“In the pursuit of these goals, all sectors of the economy and all
regions of the country shall be given optimum opportunity to
develop. Private enterprises, including corporations,
cooperatives, and similar collective organizations, shall be
encouraged to broaden the base of their ownership.”