As the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) announced its verdict, independent think-tank IBON, one of the initiators to the complaint filed before the international opinion tribunal, said that voters could use the verdict as a guide in supporting candidates who genuinely uphold Filipinos’ economic, social and cultural rights.

As the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT) announced its verdict, independent think-tank IBON, one of the initiators to the complaint filed before the international opinion tribunal, said that voters could use the verdict as a guide in supporting candidates who genuinely uphold Filipinos’ economic, social and cultural rights.

In its verdict finding that the Arroyo administration had violated Filipinos’ rights, the PPT once again denounced the unequal character of the Philippine economic system, which it said resulted in shockingly inequitable income gaps in which the richest 10% of the country’s families had average incomes six times as much as those of the poorest ten percent.

The PPT noted that because of neoliberal policies, which were aggressively implemented in the last decade, wealth has been further concentrated in the hands of a relative few: the country’s top 1,000 corporations have increased their annual net income by 325% between 2001 and 2005. Meanwhile, in the countryside, seven out of 10 farmers are landless, while the prices of their products are lowered due to competition from cheap imported produce.

Prioritizing debt payments at theexpense of public spending on services has also resulted in worsening of child and maternal mortality. In the urban areas, 54% of women delivered in a health facility while in rural communities, only 22% did so. 59% of women delivered their babies unassisted by medical personnel such as a doctor, nurse or even a midwife.

IBON research head Sonny Africa said that voters can choose senatorial and congressional candidates who would pass legislation to reverse such damaging neoliberal policies. Such legislation could include: rejecting free trade agreements such as those proposed with the US and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), as well as the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA); reversing the liberalization of the mining sector through the annulment of the Mining Act of 1995; a moratorium on debt payments and new borrowings, with the savings directed towards increased spending on services such as health and education; and increasing tariffs on agricultural and industrial products.

These are some of the most urgent policies that have to be implemented if Filipinos’ welfare, jobs and livelihoods are to improve in the coming years, Africa said.

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