Filipinos in chronic crisis

2 MIN READ

BAGUIO CITY — “Manhid na tayo sa krisis,” (We have grown numb with crisis) was how Carol Araullo, Bayan chairperson, described the Filipino masses continue to face one crisis after another – political crisis, social crisis.

However, it is not enough that Filipinos go hungry, Araullo said towards the end of her talk on the Philippine situation in a forum sponsored by the Tongtongan ti Umili and the multi-sectoral Coalition for Truth and Accountability, which also brought in ZTE-NBN scandal whistle-blower Jun Lozada last April.

Araullo added “Maigsi na ang pisi ng mga Pinoy,” (the Pinoy is getting impatient). “May kulo na kakaiba (There is something so different brewing) that in due time, people will act on the roots of their hardships,” she told her audience of students, religious, business persons and activists.

Modern Diaspora

“We are the new diaspora,” Araullo said of the Filipinos in the period of globalization, when eight to nine million Filipinos have to go out of the country to find greener pastures. She said around 3,200 leave daily as overseas Filipino workers (OFWs).

Wages remain cheap in the country. It is pegged at P265 daily while the cost of living continues to go up with incessant increases in the price of prime commodities including rice and other food items. The price of oil and its by-products continues to rise weekly in recent months and since January it has been raised more than 20 times.

Filipinos are in every country in the world because of poverty in the Philippines, which Araullo traced to the semi-feudal and semi-colonial economy, which is characterized by backwardness of agriculture and the import dependent and export oriented economy.

The rice crisis in the country, she said, could be an offshoot of a much greater crisis in politics. The National Food Authority whose mandate is to assist farmers by buying their palay (unhusked rice) and to help consumers by selling rice has a very little budget allocation, she added.

“Ang nangyari, naging importer na lang ang NFA,” (NFA has become an importer) Araullo lamented. “Why does it have to subsidize the farmers when it could just buy rice from other countries?” she added in sarcasm, saying it is “not that easy to import because we would only be feeding international speculation.”

Political maturity

Araullo reminded people of their experience in two instances of presidential ouster. There is always a cause for optimism, she said. People could no longer be cowed into changing the president with another corrupt president.

“It is not enough that we go hungry. People now know that the problem is not solved in just a change of horses, but in a much tougher task to transform our societal system,” she said.

“Mas maraming trabaho ang ating haharapin,” (We have a lot to do) Araullo said as she challenged the youth to persevere with what those with gray hair have started. “In the middle of the rot, will always emerge hope,” she said. # Lyn V. Ramo