The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) blaimed the Macapagal-Arroyo regime for the current spate of price increases including rice. According to Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos, secretary general of the group “this would mean another burden to the already suffering Filipino people, a result of the globalization policy which was drafted by Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo herself when she was still a senator,”

“A kilo of Sinandomeng rice which last week costs P21.00 but now amounts to P23.00, also a sack of rice which formerly cost P900 now costs P1000. Onions from Nueva Ecija now costs P8 a kilo because of competition from China. Their cost of production is P70,000 a hectare but now they earn only P10,000, they have a deficit of P60,000,” added the peasant leader.

As can be remembered the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade which was ratified in December 31, 1994 and took effect on January 1, 1995, resulted in our country’s entry into the World Trade Organization, the primary cause of the rising prices of basic necessities.

For his part Carl Anthony Ala, public information officer of KMP, castigated the government for entering such a onerous agreement. “We have gained nothing in entering this agreement only suffering and further exploitation, we have said it before and we will say it again, we must “JUNK the WTO!”

“For our country to prosper, we must rely on our own people and resources, not on foreign imports. This is an open challenge to the government, if indeed it has a Filipino First policy we must pull out from the WTO. This is the action we want, not some cheap political gimmick going into palengke tours!” ended Ala. # # #
 

KMP - 4 August 2004