No Thanks to Arroyo

An Assessment of Arroyo's First Year as President

By Desiree May C. Diangson

It has been one year since Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took over Malacañang Palace through People Power II. A year ago, Arroyo ascended the famous EDSA Shrine and promised the Filipinos a better life - but it seems that Filipinos have nothing to be cheerful of.

In her State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered a few months after she assumed office, President Arroyo recognized the labor sector as a major contributor to the Philippine economy. At the same time, she pledged greater access to education in recognition of the role of the youth in society. None of these seemed to be the case during her first year in office.

Repeated pronouncements of economic growth and low inflation

The Arroyo government repeatedly boasts that it decreased the country's unemployment rate, from 11.6 percent in 2000 to 9.8 percent last year. It also claims to have created 200,000 jobs in the agriculture sector alone.

In an interview with Bulatlat.com, an alternative online newspaper, Rep. Satur Ocampo of Bayan Muna said that Arroyo's repeated rosy pronouncements of economic growth and low inflation "obscene" and "with 3.7 million jobless Filipinos and over 31 million poor Filipinos in 2001, she should be ashamed of the callousness of her remarks."

Bayan Muna is a progressive party-list group, which played a leading role in the ouster of former president Joseph Estrada.

Last year, Arroyo urged businesses to increase the workers' Cost of Living Allowance (COLA). Only P15 (US$0.3) of the P30 (US$0.6) addition to the COLA was given in November. The remaining amount is yet to be given in February this year.

But despite the increase in the COLA, the minimum wage of P265 (US$5.16) in Metro Manila is still way below the P518.07 (US$10.36) Daily Cost of Living Allowance projected by IBON Foundation Inc., an independent research institution. Only minimal wage increases in some regions were granted last year. Most lawmakers ignored the popular campaign for a P125 (US$2.43) nationwide wage hike, saying that such wage increase would hurt small and medium-scale businesses.

There is also a steady decline in the purchasing power of the peso (PPP). For five years, the PPP has been on a downward trend based on a monitoring by Bulatlat.com.This means that wages in Metro Manila have been eroded by as much as 40% due to rising cost of goods and services compared to 1994.

Anti-education national budget

Like its predecessor, the Arroyo government has placed the education sector behind debt servicing and the military sector in the 2002 national budget appropriations. This year, the government allotted P57.3 billion (US$1.146 billion) for the military, a 13.3 percent increase from last year, and P359 billion (US$7.18 billion) for debt servicing. The entire education sector (primary, secondary, tertiary) received a meager P129.6 billion (US$2.592 million), an 8.17 percent increase from the 2001 national budget.

Over the years, the lack of funds resulted to shortage in school facilities and teachers. In the college level, the budget cut forced universities to implement cost-cutting measures and increases in tuition and other fees. The Youth Movement for Justice and Meaningful Change (YMJC), formerly known as the Erap Resign Youth Movement, feared that the current administration's failure to stop the tuition hike in state colleges and universities (SCUs), ranging from 100 percent to 200 percent, might prompt many students to drop out of school.These, among many other factors added to the decline of the quality of education and also made it inaccessible for many.

A year has passed and it is apparent that Filipinos have little to thank President Arroyo for. It is the hope of every Filipino that Arroyo would not put to waste her remaining three years in office, and in turn, preserve the worth of People Power II - to which she owes her position.