News
Wage hike necessary, overdue amid pandemic and high prices
January 23, 2021
A substantial wage hike remains just and necessary even amid the pandemic economic shock. It is incumbent on the government to come up with schemes to enable a wage hike that increases incomes of low-income households and which will also stimulate aggregate demand in the economy. This can include mandating higher wages while giving wage subsidies to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)
Crisis upon crisis: 2021 Yearstarter Birdtalk highlights
January 23, 2021
It is important that the government acknowledge the enormity of the public health and economic crisis. This is necessary for the vital shift in attitude from business-as-usual to undertaking urgent COVID-19 response and long-term reforms.
IBON debunks economic Cha-cha movers’ claims on FDI
January 19, 2021
Charter change proponents claim that removing economic protections against foreign investments is needed for economic recovery. But FDI liberalization will instead have long-term adverse impacts on national economic development.
Economic cha-cha is no vaccine for recovery or development
January 13, 2021
The economy’s development lies in using the protections in the Constitution to gain from foreign investment, not in taking away the protections and giving self-interested foreign investment free rein over the domestic economy.
Cash subsidies for poorest households urgent as inflation reaches 21-month high
January 5, 2021
In the face of soaring prices, joblessness and meager incomes, emergency cash subsidies for the poorest Filipinos and support for small businesses need to be increased substantially. Distribute Bayanihan 2 cash assistance immediately, and a new cash subsidy program to cover several millions of vulnerable citizens should be drawn up.
Capitalism Upon COVID-19
December 25, 2020
Analysis | The planet’s richest 30 billionaires now own more than the poorest four billion people or over half of the world’s population combined. The world economy is ending 2020 on a bleak note for billions of the working people everywhere.
PH labor market rebounding but not recovering – IBON
December 4, 2020
News | The labor market rebounding as lockdown restrictions are eased should not be mistaken as ‘recovery’. More than people returning to work, the term should mean returning to the same levels of employment as before. Recovery can only happen with substantial economic stimulus with sufficient government financial assistance or subsidies to workers affected by the pandemic.
Gov’t priorities enrich a few and destroy the environment–IBON
November 25, 2020
News | The Philippine government’s bias for profit-seeking interests even at the expense of the environment are the root cause of the logging, quarrying and land conversion in Rizal and Cagayan provinces that have caused such devastating floods.
Govt stinginess worsens Filipinos’ suffering and PH economic collapse
November 10, 2020
Statement | Months into the worst economic collapse in the country’s history, the Duterte administration’s obsession with creditworthiness and the myth of a fundamentally strong Philippine economy is preventing it from taking the measures needed for real and rapid recovery.
