U.S. military actions broaden crisis

An International Solidarity Mission came here Aug. 8-13 to defend a people under siege from the regime of Gloria Macapagal Arroyo and her government’s imperialist backers in Washington.

The week of activities was initiated by the International League of People’s Struggles-Philippines chapter, Krapatan (Alliance for the Advancement of People’s Rights), Promotion of Church People’s Response, Bayan (New Patriotic Alliance), International Association of People’s Lawyers and Bayan Muna Partylist. Of roughly 90 delegates from 19 countries, about 30 came from the U.S.

This event took place as U.S. troops in collusion with the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) began a new round of war maneuvers against the armed revolutionary movement in Sulu Province in South ern Mindanao. The Arroyo government has directed and supported military attacks and massacres in communities of Moro people there.

The fighting in Sulu began in February, when the AFP and the Moro National Lib eration Front (MNLF) had an encoun ter. The AFP has accused the MNLF of coordinating with the Abu Sayyaf—an Islamic group that has been the primary pretext for U.S. military intervention in the Philippines.

Broader crisis

Oil prices are going through the roof, food prices rising and real wages decreasing. On the political front there is mass pressure to oust Arroyo. Congress is debating whether to set up the procedure for Arroyo’s impeachment.

It is helpful to look at the effects of globalization, government spending, the foreign debt and unemployment to get an understanding of the broader crisis.

Some 86 million people live in the 7,000 islands that make up the Philip pines. While Tagalog, English, Cebuano and llocano are prominent, more than 80 other languages and dialects are spoken. Indigenous people make up 12 percent of the population.

Eight million Filipinos work overseas, 70 percent of them women. Most work in Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan. A large number of Filipino nurses work in the U.S.

According to President Arroyo, these overseas workers sent $8 billion home to the Philippines in 2001.

Debt servicing was 55 percent of the national budget in 2000, military spending was 9.2 percent, and only 2 percent was spent on health care.

The minimum wage is $5.45 per day in Manila and much lower in the provinces. The cost of living per month for a family of six is $340. Nurses make $180 per month and doctors $288. This is partly why health care workers go abroad.

The income of the bottom half of the population dropped 3 percent between 1988 and 2000 while the income of the top fifth increased by 4 percent.

Between 1989 and 2000, after the Philip pines joined the World Trade Orga ni zation, imports of rice increased by 540 percent and poultry increased 580 percent. The Philippines is now the world’s sixth-biggest importer of rice. The growth of agribusiness, with absentee landlords, has left thousands of farmers landless and homeless. Electricity has been privatized.

About 89 percent of the people work part-time, are self-employed or are unpaid family workers, as can be seen in the villages especially.

Eolis was a U.S. delegate in the International Solidarity Mission. Next: Talking to Moro refugees.