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Fifth and last SONA of GMA

On July 24, GMA will be delivering her Fifth SONA (state of the nation address) since she assumed power in 2001.

On her first SONA in 2001, Innabuyog charged her of insincerity in addressing the basic economic issues of Filipino women like employment and security of livelihood. These are basically the content of the women’s agenda forwarded to her at the verge of the collapse of Estrada administration.

In the 2002 SONA, Innabuyog united with other progressive groups and called for GMA’s ouster because of her strong adherence to the US-led war on terror and the non-realization of her promise of “pagkain sa bawat hapag”.

In 2003, we accused her of having no “palabra de honor” after she announced with arrogance that she would run for president in the 2004 elections in order to continue with her national economic program which she proclaimed as having created headway.

In 2004, she cheated in the elections and plundered public funds to realize her dream of becoming the president of the Republic. She clung into her position and completely disregarded complaints and mounting protests on the legitimacy of her presidency.

In 2005, she succeeded in pushing the Supreme Court to reverse its earlier decision declaring the Phil. Mining Act of 1995 as unconstitutional. The Supreme Court then said that the Act was constitutional. The country was then in severe economic and political crisis. The price of oil went up by 50 centavos almost every week; the peso plunged to its lowest reaching P56.20 to a US dollar. Unemployment rate reached a high 13.4% and inflation rate reached as high as 8.3%. Since 2001, oil price hiked by 140%, electricity rose by 110% and water rate rose by 370%. Basic services badly needed by women, youth and children like health, education and housing deteriorated. They get the lowest appropriation and yet every year a budget cut is done on these social services. On the other hand, the budget for debt service gets more than 1/3 of the national budget. Defense also enjoys an increasing allocation. These harrowing conditions only meant increasing violence to women, which included hunger, forced migration, sexual, physical and psychological violence.

Desperate to hold on to power, GMA has resorted to draconian measures. Political repression and killings have been a policy of her government through a military operation plan codenamed Bantay Laya. Karapatan, a national human rights organization, recorded 705 victims since 2001. Of these, 73 are women, five of which are pregnant. Aside from the women victims of political killings, GABRIELA accounted 153 women victims of enforced disappearance, 150 victims of illegal arrest and detention, two cases of military rape, 24 cases of sexual abuse and harassment by the military, and three cases of miscarriage during forced evacuation. At least 10 pregnant women had miscarriage during forced evacuations.

Militarization continues to plague the countryside especially in the seven priority regions of the Oplan Bantay Laya. She is determined to get rid of her critics in the guise of counter-insurgency and national stability. She has closed her ears from pressures of national and international human rights groups to act on the political killings and continued repression. Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales who is equally rabid as GMA calls it collateral damage. Last month, GMA ordered the release of P1 billion to crush insurgency in two years, a problem which is making herself. How can she just give that sum when the real problem is poverty, intensified hunger among poor Filipino women and their families?

No Filipino woman has been as power-hungry as GMA. It is indeed high time that she goes. We cannot afford more victims of political assassination and we cannot just allow more to die of hunger. More so, we cannot just die doing nothing on the crimes of GMA against the Filipino women and people. This should be GMA’s last SONA. #

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