June 30, 2023, marks the end of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s first full year as President of the Philippines. It has been a year of new beginnings, new heights, and new promises of prosperity – that is, if you belong to a certain level of rich.
For the rest of us, this last year couldn’t have been worse. SPARK reminisces on the new Marcos administration’s ten biggest triumphs for the elite so far. If this year is a sign of things to come, the wealthy have every reason to celebrate… and the poor will struggle to fight for their lives.
Ballooning Debt
What do you do when you’re a neoliberal government seeking to increase resource mobilization? No, you don’t tax your rich friends. You get loans from big international banks and make the masses pay for it. What do you use the money for? No, you don’t use it for public services, you hand doleouts to your rich friends.
Establishment of the RCEP
What do you do when you’re a neoliberal government seeking to increase resource mobilization? No, you don’t tax your rich friends. You get loans from big international banks and make the masses pay for it. What do you use the money for? No, you don’t use it for public services, you hand doleouts to your rich friends.
Meralco rate increases
Why meddle into the private sector and set prices that are just for consumers when you can just leave the private sector to monopolize and dictate its own prices and profit? Why bother providing electricity, an essential resource, for all, when it can instead be monetized, and people can be forced to either pay exorbitant amounts or literally not having any lights on?
Maharlika Investment Fund
The seemingly inevitable passage of the Maharlika Investment Fund will see the government use billions in our taxpayer pesos to, essentially, gamble on overseas projects. And while the Filipino masses ultimately bear the risk of its failure, any profits will inevitably only be enjoyed by Marcos himself and his elite friends.
Privatizing public transport
Instead of responding to the transport crisis of millions of Filipinos traveling back and forth from their hometowns, particularly in trains and planes, the Marcos government plans to wash their hands of responsibility and push it to the private sector. The ecological disasters left behind by SMC in Bulacan, and the recent LRT fare hikes, are just two examples of what happens when major public goods are left to private hands.
Rising cost of survival
NCR wage increase by 40 pesos? That’s barely an increase considering the 7% inflation rate. Why give workers a living wage and guarantee that their families live with dignity when you can keep profit margins for your rich friends at an all-time high? While the masses starve and struggle to even survive due to the dual threats of inflation and falling wages, the elite continue to thrive.
More and more mining permits
Despite countless promises to the contrary by both his and previous administrations, President Marcos has continued to green-light various mining projects that have destroyed local communities and the environment. Any resistance organized against these projects was always met with the full force of state violence.
Pushes for unjust jeepney modernization
Disguised as an effort to reduce the country’s carbon emissions, the administration pushed for the jeepney modernization program to make way for corporate phase-in. Instead of strengthening and ensuring a just transition to a climate-resilient public transport system, big-businesses are profiteering thanks to BBM, while drivers face the looming reality of losing their livelihoods.
War posturing and MROTC
Ready for a new imperialist war? Marcos sure is, as he continues his overtures to the United States, most gravely through the establishment of new EDCA sites across the country. Meanwhile, his cohorts push the reactivation of Mandatory ROTC that militarizes campuses while neglecting the education needs of the youth. All while deflecting from the government’s anti-people and anti-nature measures, for the political and economic interest of the elite.
Appointment of new clowns to the growing circus
Need to know how little Marcos cares about the issues of the people? Just look at the people he surrounds himself with. The appointment of Larry Gadon as presidential adviser for poverty alleviation was one thing; the appointment of redtagger-in-chief VP Sara Duterte to seemingly every possible government post, including DepEd secretary, quite another. The clowns are running the circus, and the masses are too busy suffering and struggling, to be laughing.