(Eagle News Service) — The militant group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan called on President Rodrigo Duterte to implement “sweeping economic reforms” to address workers’ demands, as several groups held rallies in selected places to mark Labor Day.
In a statement, Renato Reyes, Bayan secretary general, said “pump-priming through infrastructure spending or ‘Dutertenomics’ is,” after all, “not enough to develop the economy.”
“This has been tried before by other regimes, all the way back to the Marcos era,” he said.
He said for the economy to “truly develop,” there should be “national industrialization which will lay the basis for massive job-generation and which will provide for domestic needs.”
He said there should also be “land reform and rural development to make agriculture a stable economic base.”
“The current export-import economy will not lead to real economic development for the majority of Filipinos,” Reyes said.
Genuine growth
According to Reyes, Duterte can “perhaps learn a thing or two” from Russia’s Vladimir Lenin, “and how the Soviets turned their economy around and achieved unprecedented growth, just before the betrayal and reversal of socialism in 1956.”
He said the Russian Revolution from 1917-1956 “relied on the people, particularly the workers and peasants, in their bid to transform their society from a weak, feudal power into a strong industrialized nation that defeated the forces of fascism in World War 2. “
“Duterte still has a chance to steer the Philippines towards genuine growth but he cannot do this if he adheres to the same neoliberal economic framework of his predecessors. He must break with the failed formula of liberalization, privatization, deregulation and de-nationalization. He must end the foreign-dominated economic system,” Reyes said.
He said the peace talks between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front of the Philippines, and the Comprehensive Agreement on Social Economic Reforms negotiations “provide a venue for forging a viable alternative to neoliberalism.”
“The proposals are not impossible and may soon lead to a signed agreement that can be jointly and separately implemented for the benefit of the people,” he said.
