MEDIA RELEASE | 10 May 2016
IBON Foundation | #114 Timog Ave. Quezon City | 9276986 | www.ibon.org
ON IMMINENT WIN: DUTERTE CHALLENGED TO TAKE FIRST REAL STEPS czAS PRO-PEOPLE PRESIDENT
Research
group IBON said that, if elected, 2016 national elections frontrunner
Davao City Mayor Rodrigo Duterte would have risen to the presidency on a
surge of frustration with traditional politics and chronic economic
backwardness. The clamor for change deserves economic policies biased
for the poor and the national economy and that break from the failed
neoliberal economics of the outgoing Aquino administration.
According
to IBON, Duterte does not even have to wait to be formally declared
president-elect of the Philippines to articulate economic policies that
will genuinely benefit the Filipino people. As it is, IBON noted that
Duterte has the thinnest economic policy agenda among the presidential
candidates and that it is still continuous with the failed policies of
the past.
IBON
said that the clamor for change deserves a genuinely radical pro-people
agenda. While campaigning, Duterte said that he was not beholden to any
elites or big business interests, even boldly claiming that he will be
"the country's first Leftist president". A few key policy choices would
go far in establishing this as not mere rhetoric to get popular support.
Duterte can announce that if he becomes president he will:
Distribute
land for free to farmers and implement a Php750 national minimum wage,
which would immediately benefit tens of millions of Filipinos and their
families;
Stop
privatization that makes social services and public utilities expensive
and inaccessible for the majority of poor Filipinos and genuinely
expand the public school and hospital system, for instance, which would
ensure that all Filipinos have the education and health care they are
entitled to;
Tax
the rich and big corporations more while reducing or eliminating the
tax burden on the poor majority, which generates government resources
for social and economic development while sending a clear signal of
being pro-poor and unafraid of domestic and foreign elites; and
Suspend
all free trade talks, review existing deals, and use the nationalist
provisions of the 1987 Constitution to develop the Philippine economy,
all of which are crucial steps to regaining sovereignty over the
country's labour, natural resources, and economy.
Daring
policy choices are needed to give substance to Duterte's presidency.
Many were attracted by his bold promise to rid the country of
criminality, drugs and corruption in "3-6 months". Even bolder
declarations to eradicate poverty and exploitation are needed as the
first steps to real change for the Filipino people. The vast powers of
the state should be used to promote economic democracy rather than
neoliberalism that benefits a few.
IBON Foundation, Inc. is an independent development institution established in 1978 that provides research, education, publications, information work and advocacy support on socioeconomic issues.
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IBON Foundation
Media & Communications Department
#114 Timog Ave/ 9276986
www.ibon.org/ @IbonFoundation
(xands - 09254545577)
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