Same old, rotten political system

Letters .

THE alliance between a president who sponsored the wholesale accommodation of an ousted tyrant and a family who quickly swarmed back to power, shows off how rotten the political system in the country is.

The Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (Carmma), along with people’s organizations under Bayan, recently led the protests at the Libingan ng mga Bayani during the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos’ 101st birthday.

A dictator buried in the “Libingan ng mga Bayani” is one among the many reasons why we will always remember how we were betrayed as a nation.  We will never forget all human rights violations under martial law.

Now, the continuing assault on the the people’s rights is perpetrated by a different regime, bred by the same rotten system that Marcos exploited to stay in power for more than 20 years. Duterte, the aspiring dictator, is striking a deal with the devils, partnering with the wretched Marcos family to further his tyrannical ambitions.

While the Marcoses and Duterte have worked double-time to fulfill their political ambitions, the people’s demands for accountability and justice are left unanswered.

The Marcoses have yet to return all ill-gotten wealth, amassed by the dictator’s first family which they continue to feed on. To the people, we should always be reminded that the money from the country’s coffers is still being spent by the Marcoses to fund their political comeback.

We impress on fellow martial law survivors that with a tyrant-and-dictator-wannabe in power, there is no retirement against tyranny and dictatorship.

How do we forget the atrocities of martial law when we continue to see the killings, the illegal arrests, and the myriad of rights violations today? We are wheeled back to the time of Marcos’ martial law with the skyrocketing prices of goods, the record-breaking inflation, the Filipino people in deeper poverty, and critics of the government being attacked and persecuted. These are not mere flashbacks or throwbacks. These are the very reasons why the Filipino people overthrew the Marcos regime.

We criticize Duterte’s  pronouncements alluding to plans from varied opposition groups for his ouster.   Duterte knows very well that his anti-people policies, his rehabilitation of tyrants and plunderers like the Marcoses and Arroyo, among other anti-people politicians and rights violators, are reasons for the widening disenchantment with his regime. Duterte is his own destabilizer. – Dr. Judy Taguiwalo, lead convenor of Campaign Against the Return of the Marcoses and Martial Law (Carmma)

Belly is More Important

PRESIDENT Rodrigo Duterte should remove the taxes on petroleum products.

Mr. President, the belly is more important than the building. The golden age of infrastructure can wait, but a hungry nation cannot.

Sir, it’s about time that we rein in the economic managers who have been absolutely tonedeaf to the crippling situation on the ground.

Despite rising prices, Duterte’s economic managers continue to insist that taxes on petroleum products have very little effect on inflation.

There are immediate positive effects in removing taxes on petroleum: Government does not profit from the present economic misery of the public, and certainly, lower petroleum prices will result in lower food prices.

The phasing of the “Build Build Build” program can be reassessed if proceeding with the flagship program at the current rate will only increase the economic burden of the public.

“Build Build Build” has been touted as among the main reasons why petroleum taxes cannot be removed. If slowing down the program is what it takes to slightly resolve the daily economic hardships of the public, then that should be call that the President should make in his address to the nation today. – Terry L. Ridon, convenor, InfrawatchPH