News Roundup 08 October 2022
Oct 08, 2022 • 7 min Read
Groups slam Marcos admin’s failure to address economic crisis in first 100 days | PHILSTAR.COM – Groups are criticizing President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s first 100 days in office after they were dissatisfied with how he addressed the country’s most pressing issues. “The past 100 days have been more about posturing, rhetoric, and image-building, rather than actual problem solving,” Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) Secretary General Renato Reyes Jr. said in a Facebook post. Reyes said the first 100 days of a president should have given its constituents a picture on how it plans to address crises, noting that Marcos had promised to create a comprehensive plan for the country’s economy. However, the Filipino people have yet to see where or how this plan would go. “We do not see real, comprehensive solutions, only speeches aimed at pleasing foreign interests and the social elite,” Reyes said. Anakpawis party-list, fisherfolk organization Pambansang lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (PAMALAKAYA), and farmers’ group Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) said Marcos Jr.’s administration has failed to address the economic crisis. “Tumataas na presyo ng pagkain, bilihin at serbisyo, binagyo na ang mga magsasaka at mangingisda, hindi pa rin tinablan ng hiya si Marcos Jr., at nagpatuloy ito sa luho at hindi pagresolba sa krisis sa pagkain at ekonomiya,” Anakpawis-party-list National President Ariel Casilao said in a statement. (Even with the rising food prices, cost of goods and services, farmers and fishers getting battered by a recent storm, Marcos Jr. still did not feel ashamed and continued to live in luxury instead of solving the country’s food and economic crisis.) The country’s September inflation print quickened 6.9% year-on-year in September, latest data from the Philippine Statistics Authority showed. This is higher than the 6.3% logged in August, exceeding the national government’s target of 2-4% this year but is well-within the 6.6% to 7.1% forecast of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas for the month of September. The country’s economic team already admitted that it is unlikely the country would meet its inflation target this year. A nationwide survey of 1,200 by polling firm Pulse Asia showed that a majority or 42% of their respondents were unhappy with how Marcos is dealing with the country’s staggering inflation rate, while only 31% said they were satisfied. Farmers and fisherfolk noted that prices of commodities, transportation, and other utility costs are rising without substantial aid or subsidies from the government. “Sa halip na palakasin ang lokal na produksyon — importasyon pa rin ang palaging tugon ng gobyerno. Mag-iimport ng asukal, bigas, isda at iba pa,” KMP said in a separate statement. “Malulugmok lalo at babagsak ang kita ng mga magsasaka at mangingisda.” (Instead of finding ways to boost local production — the government’s response has always been to import. Import sugar, rice, fish and others. This would further cause farmers and fishermen’s income to decline.) Activist fishers’ group PAMALAKAYA is calling on the government to address the sector’s recovery from its “utmost bankruptcy.” This includes a P15,000 worth of production subsidy, which can cover at least two month’s worth of fuel. The amount is similar to farmers’ production subsidy request. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources’ “Fuel Assistance to Fisherfolk” under its 2023 budget totaled P489.6 million. This means that subsidy can only be provided to 32,600 of the two million registered fisherfolk across the country. The group is also calling on the government to rid of the import-liberalization policies that hit local production. Meanwhile, rights group Karapatan noted that human rights violations continue under Marcos’ administration due to drug war policies and counterinsurgency pograms. “There has been no let-up in extrajudicial killings, red-tagging, threats and intimidation, and other state-sponsored attacks against dissenters and communities, even in the midst of the worsening impacts of the economic crisis on the poor majority,” Karapatan Secretary General Cristina Palabay.
LTFRB’s Garafil tapped as Palace media OIC | INQUIRER.NET – Lawyer Cheloy Velicaria-Garafil is now officer in charge (OIC) of the Office of the Press Secretary (OPS), Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin confirmed on Friday. The transfer of Garafil from her post as chair of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) follows the resignation on Tuesday of Press Secretary Trixie Cruz-Angeles, who said she was quitting for “health reasons.” In a statement on Friday, Garafil said she had accepted an “offer to help” in the OPS. “This is a great honor and privilege and I thank the President for this opportunity to once again work with him in his administration to serve the Filipino people,” said the 50-year-old lawyer. President Marcos had earlier said he would announce his new press secretary next week, adding that his next appointee should be “a friend of the media.” “Obviously we need somebody who’s very experienced. Probably a journalist or is a media practitioner … so that the information we want to release will be really conveyed,” Mr. Marcos said at his news briefing on Thursday. Before pursuing a career in public service, Garafil was a reporter for the newspaper Malaya, covering various beats such as the judiciary, the police, and the local governments. She then worked for the (now-defunct) Philippine Daily Globe and the Central News Agency of Taiwan. Garafil took up journalism at University of Santo Tomas (UST) but graduated with a communication arts degree. She later pursued law studies also at UST, then passed the bar in 2003. In government, she served under the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo as a prosecutor for the Department of Justice. In March 2010, three months before the end of her presidency, Arroyo named Garafil state solicitor II under the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG). But Garafil and about 800 other appointees at that time were subsequently removed by Arroyo’s successor, Benigno Aquino III, when he issued Executive Order No. 2 on Aug. 4 that year, rescinding those appointments. She questioned Aquino’s order before the Supreme Court, which upheld that directive five years later—in particular, a provision stating that “The following appointments [of Garafil and the others] … made on or after March 11, 2010, … where the appointee has accepted, or taken his oath, or assumed public office … shall be considered as midnight appointments.” Garafil’s appointment to the OSG was dated March 5, 2010, but she took her oath on March 22 that year. She continued to serve Arroyo during her speakership at the House of Representatives, acting as her public and media affairs director and also as service director for the House committee on rules. Garafil will be succeeded in the LTFRB by board member Riza Marie Paches, who will also act as OIC, according to a special order by Transportation Secretary Jaime Bautista.
Cops as bodyguards for Pogos irk senators | INQUIRER.NET – Close to 300 policemen have been providing protection for private individuals, among them Chinese nationals behind the online gambling business, an admission by the country’s top cop that piqued some senators who questioned the propriety of giving bodyguards to foreigners paid for by Filipino taxes. At a Senate budget hearing on Friday, Philippine National Police chief Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr. disclosed that some of the bosses of Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) and their “extended families” had as many as 10 officers from the PNP Police Security and Protection Group (PSPG) for protection. “We were not able to anticipate that the PNP was already providing bodyguards to these Pogo operators,” Azurin said during deliberations on the proposed budget for the Department of the Interior and Local Government in 2023. Obviously caught unaware, Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos promptly ordered Azurin to “stop this practice” of assigning police officers as bodyguards of Chinese nationals and their families after Sen. Juan Edgardo Angara questioned its legality. “I’m directing our (PNP) chief to look into this,” he said. Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, a retired PNP chief, told Azurin that he could just order the PSPG to stop giving police protection to Chinese citizens. “If they need many security details, it only means that they are engaged in a very dangerous business,” said Dela Rosa, who led a separate inquiry into criminal activities linked to Pogos. He said “maybe” these Pogo operators “are into illegal business that’s why they want many security personnel.” Angara, who presided over the hearing as Senate finance committee chair, pointed out that since PNP officers were government workers, it meant that Filipino taxpayers were spending for the security of these Chinese citizens. He noted that many of these foreigners were often seen entering shopping malls “with an entourage of bodyguards.” “For every [policeman] you assign [to Pogo executives], you deprive other communities of police protection, isn’t it?” Angara said, pressing Azurin. Speaking with reporters after the hearing, Abalos agreed with the senator that Filipinos were paying for the salaries of the police officers deployed as Pogo bodyguards.
