By Cris A. Heredia
(Editor’s Note: CRIS A. HEREDIA is the Head of the Social Science Department of the Aklan State University (ASU)-Ibajay campus). A Martial Law baby, he was born in the "decade of the century" when most of the significant political and social events of the 1900’s happened. He grew up listening to stories of the atrocities of the Marcos regime. He had witnessed "EDSA" and the unfolding of the post Marcos era democracy. He saw how the country tried in vain to rise from poverty and to attain true democracy. He lives through four different regimes, Cory’s, FVR’s, Erap’s and now GMA’s.)
President Cory Aquino introduced the Structural Adjustment Program; Pres. Fidel V. Ramos popularized his Philippines 2000, which he said, "would bring the country to a newly industrialized countryhood status by 2000." President Estrada…and now Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, brought out her "Strong Republic" which I accused of being tainted with the blood of activists and of other political dissenters.
All these economic programs were geared towards economic liberalization. These programs had been proven in time to be friendly to foreign capitalists but harmful to Filipinos. These economic programs, which differ in name but not in form and structure, have failed through the years, through different regimes.
With the Filipinos getting more desperate due to the unfilled promises of the Cory and of the other regimes, the government has been trying to introduce Cha-Cha, which it declares to be the ultimate solution to the ailing economy and to the precarious political situation. Its first attempt after Cory was as early as during Ramos’ time when the 1987 Constitution was barely ten years old.
With the wounds of Martial Law being fresh, it was met with resistance and skepticism. President Erap revived it, but even the ‘pro-masa’ icon was not so convincing. And now cha-cha is resurrected under GMA. Many questioned the motive and the timing of the proposed Arroyo’s ChaCha. It came after the "Hello Garci" controversy and after military threats against GMA’s presidency.
For me, ChaCha is simply, the most dangerous decision the government has ever taken. ChaCha has two major concerns: the changing of the current Presidential form of government to Parliamentary system and the other one, which is more dangerous, is economic liberalization. Although studying deeper the proposed parliamentary system would reveal an attempt to bring back the dictatorship, and to retain Mrs. Arroyo in power forever, as a nationalist environmentalist, I am not as much disturbed by it as by the proposed liberal economic framework of the country.
Arroyo’s Cha-Cha proposes to totally open up the country’s economy to foreigners. This means that foreigners can own the country’s national patrimony, including land, waters, trees, mines and others. I cannot imagine our government selling out lands to foreigners, when many Filipino’s have died fighting for lands (e.g. Mendiola massacre, Hacienda Luisita massacre). And I cannot imagine the very little chance that I have right now of buying my own piece of land getting totally lost later (many professionals like me can not afford to buy a piece of land for housing). It will worsen our squatting in the land of our birth. (We fought the Spaniards, the Americans and the Japanese for this land.)
Malacanang’s Cha-Cha Ad Com said the country has so much economic potentials, but these remain untapped. Hence, so they claim, our resources must be opened to foreigners for use. That way, foreign-owned industries will be built and jobs will be made available for us. Well, this has been tried for years, but this continuously fails to bring the country to progress.
It is so sad the government has resorted to giving our resources to foreigners because of its incapacity to tap local resources for the Filipino people. Because the government fails to develop and support local researchers and scientists who can explore and develop these resources, it has allowed foreign scientists to do bioprospecting in the country.
As of January of this year, hundreds of thousands of Philippine bioresources are registered under US, Germany and Japan companies. This may mean that, later, we might end up paying to these companies before we can plant the very species of plants we have been cultivating through the years. With the country having no agricultural resource base to develop, how can it be able to industrialize? There are other disturbing economic issues under the proposed Cha-Cha (it touches 82 provisions of the 1987 Philippine Constitution). (Is PGMA bidding out Boracay Island to foreigners?)
It proposes to delete many critical protectionist economic provisions that give the Filipinos the ultimate control and ownership of the country’s national patrimony. Hence, Arroyo’s Cha-Cha is a total sell out of the country’s resources to foreign capitalists. I believe that there is nothing in the present Constitution that prevents the government from addressing vital economic concerns such as lowering the costs of medicines, undertaking agrarian reform, promoting livelihood and generating jobs and others. On the other hand, the 1987 Constitution is the product of the people’s learning from Martial Law days and from the economic and political hardships and struggles of the past centuries.
What we need right now, is not GMA’s Cha-Cha, but a government with a strong political will to advance the genuine cause of the majority, promote genuine land reform, build nationalist industries so as to promote national liberalization. Let us learn from the lessons of Martial Law and from the previous decades of economic and political struggles. /MP mailto:madyaas_pen@yahoo.com
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