Anti-poverty body describes reform package as ‘cosmetic’

A package of sweeping reforms unveiled by President Estrada to the nation through radio and television Monday night was described as "only cosmetic" by an official of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC).

At a press conference in Quezon City yesterday, Secretary Ana Maria Nemenzo, NAPC vice chairman for the basic sector, said Mr. Estrada’s promised reforms in government "fail to address the long standing demands of the basic sectors of society" for genuine social development.

"His speech was curiously silent on the long standing demands of the basic sectors for lands, jobs, voice and empowerment," she said.

The NAPC was established during the Ramos administration to implement a National Anti-Poverty Action Agenda. It is comprised of representatives of artisans, fisherfolk, children, cooperatives, farmers, landless workers, indigenous peoples, non-government organizations, the disabled, senior citizens, urban poor, victims of disasters and calamities, women, workers in the informal and formal sectors, migrant workers, the youth, and students.

Nemenzo said the Chief Executive can regain the public’s confidence if he would ensure that the impeachment proceedings against him at the House of Representatives will be speedy and impartial.

"Likewise, he should banish all those running the government without accountability through the so-called ‘midnight Cabinet’ and prosecute all of his cronies who have allegedly violated criminal and civil laws," she said.

"This too would mean going against his own political patrons who make it difficult for the government to implement pro-poor measures, such as Mr. Danding Cojuangco, who has been opposing the grant of the Coconut Levy fund to coconut farmers."

As for Vice President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Nemenzo said "it would not have made any difference" if she accepted President Estrada’s offer to head the Economic Coordinating Council.

"Remember that in the first place, when she was a senator, she led the country into the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade-World Trade Organization –that trade liberalization regime for which we are not in a better situation."

Nemenzo said the NAPC is in "a difficult bind" because it had been advocating for economic policies that are opposed by the President’s advisers.

Nemenzo said President Estrada must immediately implement the following economic and social reforms:

• Shore up the price of rice and copra, and plug the holes in the country’s pricing support system to eliminate cartels run by big traders and millers;

• Issue an executive order transferring the Coconut Levy fund to poor farmers who rightly own the fund;

• Fully implement agrarian and fisheries reforms, assuring a P6 billion fund for land acquisition for private agricultural lands, increasing the agrarian reform legal assistance fund for farmers and agrarian reform personnel and banning commercial fishing in municipal waters;

• Lower the price of electricity for families which consume no more than 75 kilowatts per month;

• Grant a decent wage increase for workers beyond the approved P26.50 per day markup and assure basic social services and non-wage benefits;

• Fully implement livelihood programs for workers in the informal sector and displaced workers in the sugar mills in the Negros provinces;

• Sign an executive order creating the People’s Development and Trust Fund, which will assure money for capability building and social preparation of the basic sectors like people’s organizations, non-government organizations, cooperatives, and local government units for microfinance credit and enterprise development;

• Certify as urgent to Congress a bill seeking to allocate 20 percent of the national budget and official development assistance for basic social services;

• Release the budget for the implementation of the Indigenous People’s Rights Act and distribute titles to ancestral domains and lands to indigenous peoples;

• Certify as urgent to Congress bills seeking a new National Land and Water Act;

• Push for fair trade, not free trade in the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade and the World Trade Organization, assuring safety nets for agriculture and fisheries and small scale producers;

• Support resolutions in Congress setting 20 percent of the programmed budget of the government’s line-implementing agencies as Special Poverty Alleviation Fund;

• Ask Congress to amend the 1995 Philippine Mining Act, and seriously implement the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Claim and the Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title; and

• Provide a special window for loans to small entrepreneurs, increasing to P1 billion the State Insurance Fund and including in its coverage the emergency loan assistance and workers’ cooperatives.