| PGMA cheats, lie, steals: Group says |
| Written by Eldie S. Aguirre | |
| Monday, 28 July 2008 | |
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Militant organizations in Davao del Sur branded President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s State of the Nation Address (SONA) as another case of “cheating, lying and stealing”.
Members of the Citizens Alliance Unified for Sectoral Empowerment (CAUSE-DS), Nagkahiusang Mag-uuma sa Davao del Sur (United Farmers of Davao del Sur), and Anak-Bayan carried placards and streamers as they walked along the main thoroughfares of Digos City en route to a cum camp at Barangay San Jose for a 2-day protest action aimed to counter the President’s SONA.
“There are no surprises. This is what she is, historically,” Cause-DS press statement was quoted as saying.
The group said PGMA cheated the people for claiming a ‘strong economy’ and the ‘peso getting stronger against the dollar’ when in reality 2 out of 3 Filipinos (66%) subscribed to the opinion that the Philippine economy has worsened during the last three years.
Cause-DS said based on IBON survey 79.33 percent of Filipinos considered themselves as poor with 70 percent is having difficulties in covering their basic needs.
“According to the official 2006 poverty incidence statistics, 26.9 percent of families, or 27 million Filipinos, fall below the poverty line, an increase from the 24.4 percent or 20.1 million Filipinos registered in 2003,” the press statement said.
This is even based on a very low poverty threshold of P41.25 ($0.93 at an exchange rate of $1=P44.23) per person per day.
With the above statistics, there is already an overwhelming indication that she cheated or shall we say, deceived Filipinos of the “Strong Economy” hype, the group said.
PGMA, Cause-DS said, lied when the NBN-ZTE deal scandal emerged. “Her cabinet secretaries and other officials invoked executive privilege to avoid telling the truth, which is contrary to her pronouncements that “she has nothing to hide”.
“With the deepening economic crisis, at a time when Filipinos are confronted with the weekly oil price hikes, soaring rice prices, relentless increase in prices of basic goods, exorbitant tuition fee increases and aggravated by joblessness, low-wage, and diminishing income, it is too much, and unbearable even, to steal from them,” the press statement says.
Organizers said the activity which is aimed to inform the Filipino people of the real status of the nation will wind up at noon of July 29 where a press conference will be conducted where resource speakers will rebut the SONA of the President and reveal the true state of the nation. |