{"id":8062,"date":"2019-05-26T21:49:04","date_gmt":"2019-05-26T13:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/?p=8062"},"modified":"2019-05-26T21:49:07","modified_gmt":"2019-05-26T13:49:07","slug":"2019-midterm-elections-results-harsher-policies-ahead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/2019-midterm-elections-results-harsher-policies-ahead\/","title":{"rendered":"2019 midterm elections results: Harsher policies ahead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Administration-backed\nbets dominated the 2019 midterm elections especially in the Senate.\nThe Duterte administration will certainly fast track its priority\nneoliberal policies as soon as the 18th<\/sup>\nCongress opens. It already used its super-majority in the 17th<\/sup>\nCongress to pass socioeconomic measures aggravating the country\u2019s\njobs crisis, poverty, and underdevelopment. More and harsher ones\nloom with many\nelected\nofficials unlikely\nto favor any policy reversals from neoliberalism. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Questionable\nresults<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nelectoral success of administration-backed candidates and party-list\ngroups was\ncontroversial.\nThe 2019 midterm elections were marred by massive vote-buying,\nwidespread breakdown of voting machines, and suspicious delays in the\ntransmission of results. The Duterte administration also visibly used\npublic resources not just to support its preferred candidates but\nalso to sabotage the campaigns of its opposition. Progressive\ncandidates, party-list groups, and their supporters were subjected to\nparticularly virulent attack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Duterte-endorsed\nHugpong ng Pagbabago (Faction for Change) candidates took nine of 12\nsenatorial slots: Cynthia Villar, richest senator and wife of the\ncountry\u2019s richest oligarch; Taguig representative Pia Cayetano;\nreelectionist senator Sonny Angara, son of the late senator Ed\nAngara; reelectionist and former senate president Koko Pimentel, son\nof former senator Aquilino Pimentel; Special Assistant to the\nPresident Christopher \u201cBong\u201d Go; former chief of police Ronald\n\u201cBato\u201d dela Rosa; Imee Marcos, eldest daughter of ousted dictator\nFerdinand Marcos; jailed plunderer former senator Ramon \u201cBong\u201d\nRevilla; and former Metro Manila Development Authority (MMDA) chief\nand presidential political adviser Francis Tolentino. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many\nwinning party-list groups are either linked with or outrightly backed\nby the administration: the Sara Duterte-backed Anti-Crime and\nTerrorism Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) party-list;\nDuterte ally Gloria Arroyo-backed AKO Bicol Political Party (AKB);\nrichest multi-billionaire congressman Michael Romero\u2019s One\nPatriotic Coalition of Marginalized Nationals (1 PACMAN); Ilocos\nNorte warlord Rudy Farinas\u2019 Probinsyano Ako; and Duterte-endorsed\nMarino, whose nominees are Davao-based businessmen. Election watchdog\nKontra Daya described these groups as \u201ddubious and making a mockery\nof the party-list system\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile,\nthe Makabayan bloc of progressive party-list groups defied systematic\nstate-sponsored attacks and vilification to take six seats in the\n18th<\/sup>\nCongress, only one less than it got in the last elections. Bayan Muna\n(BM) obtained over 1.1 million votes to get three seats for the first\ntime since 2007. Gabriela Women\u2019s Party (GWP), ACT Teachers Party,\nand Kabataan Party-list all won one seat each. The last member of the\nbloc, Anakpawis, whose farmer- and worker-dominated machinery\nsuffered violent attacks and killings however failed to retain its\nseat in the House of Representatives (HOR). \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nsystematic state-sponsored attacks on progressive candidates and\ngroups to prevent them from being elected into government exposes the\nflawed democracy of Philippine elections. Military, police and local\ngovernment officials vilified Leftist candidates, sabotaged their\ncampaigns and political alliances, and attacked their party-list\nmachinery. This is another manifestation of government\u2019s\nintolerance of activists advocating for genuine change and raising\npublic awareness on issues and proposing genuine solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looming\nsell-out and repression<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\noverwhelming number of winning candidates are from the same political\nparties, political families and elite interests behind the system of\nanti-people and anti-development laws in the country. They are likely\nto reprise or keep on with more of the same to the further detriment\nof the economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among\nthe exclusionary measures passed by the 17th<\/sup>\nCongress under the Duterte administration is the Tax Reform for\nAcceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, which lowered personal\nincome, estate, and donor taxes on the rich while burdening the\npoorest majority with higher consumption taxes. Another measure is\nthe Rice Tariffication Law which liberalized rice trade, making the\ncountry over-reliant on a narrow global market for its staple food,\namid still merely token production support for millions of rice\nfarmers. There is also the extension of Martial Law in Mindanao,\ndespite the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) already noting rampant\nhuman rights violations in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senate\npresident Vicente Sotto III said that the Senate will take up\namendments to the Public Services Act (PSA) and the Human Security\nAct (HSA) in the closing days of the 17th<\/sup>\nCongress until June. The amendments to the PSA open critical public\nutilities such as power, telecommunications, and transportation to\nexcessive foreign ownership and control. This compromises national\nsecurity and civil defense, on top of making vital public services\nexpensive and inaccessible especially for lower income families. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Amendments\nto the HSA meanwhile threaten to further restrict civil liberties and\nhuman rights. As it is, the Duterte administration is already coming\ndown hard on supposed drug personalities and alleged \u2018terrorists\u2019\nand supporters in gross disregard of due process and the law. Critics\nfear that HSA amendments will only give the government freer hand to\ncrack down on the political opposition and other perceived threats\nto its rule. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nelectoral results will also likely embolden the Duterte\nadministration to push for Charter change (Cha-cha) serving its\nnarrow political agenda. Amendments to the 1987 Philippine\nConstitution focusing on federalism and full economic liberalization\nremains priority legislation for the Duterte government. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From\nthe time of Fidel Ramos to the current administration, various\nefforts for Cha-cha were consistent in seeking to lift restrictions\non foreign exploitation of natural resources and on foreign ownership\nof land, public utilities, education institutions, and mass media and\nadvertising . The rationale is that attracting foreign investments\nwill supposedly be the key for economic development. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nsame rationale is behind other bills considered important by\nMalaca\u00f1ang pending in Senate committees, such as the National Land\nUse Plan, supposed contractualization ban, and the Tax Reform for\nAttracting Better and Higher Quality Opportunities (TRABAHO). Aside\nfrom pushing PSA amendments, the National Economic and Development\nAuthority (NEDA) reportedly also plans to recommend the following to\nthe Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council (LEDAC): sugar\nindustry liberalization, creating a Department of Water, and\nexempting government\u2019s line-itemized projects from the election\nban. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All\nthese seek to make it easier to do business and profit from public\nutilities, land and natural resources, and building infrastructure.\nThe TRABAHO bill is also a misnomer because its real focus on\nlowering corporate taxes and rationalizing incentives may, if\nanything, actually even squeeze employment and workers\u2019 salaries.\nEven the supposed law ending contractualization may end up being a\nsmoke-screen that creates the conditions for legitimizing contractual\narrangements rather than ending this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Instead\nof bringing development, Cha-cha and the rest of the Duterte\nadministration\u2019s priority bills are likely to worsen the effects of\nthe business-biased, neoliberal policies of the past decades. The\neconomy today is characterized by shrinking agriculture and Filipino\nmanufacturing, dismal jobs generation, and chronic poverty. This\ncannot be cured by further opening up to foreign capital and without\nthe state more actively intervening in the economy for strategic\nindustrial development, redistributing income and wealth, and\nproviding needed social services.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keeping\nwatch<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\nexecutive, legislative, and judicial branches of government are\noverpopulated by administration allies or otherwise intimidated into\npassivity. The manufactured results of the midterm polls strengthens\nthe hand of the Duterte administration and its elite supporters to\nimplement self-serving economic and political measures at the expense\nof the Filipino public. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More\nthan ever, the country\u2019s patrimony and sovereignty and the people\u2019s\nrights and welfare are at stake. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also\nmore than ever, the steadfast resistance of organized basic sectors\nis critical. The decades-strong social movement is the most reliable\nbulwark against the distortion of the economy to serve narrow elite\ninterests. The progressives in Congress and their allies in\ngovernment, down to the local level, can help push an alternative\neconomic agenda. Domestic agriculture and Filipino industry can be\ndeveloped, the environment protected, people\u2019s welfare upheld, and\neconomic independence attained. – With\nreport from Casey Salamanca<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Administration-backed bets dominated the 2019 midterm elections especially in the Senate. The Duterte administration will certainly fast track its priority neoliberal policies as soon as the 18th Congress opens. It already used its super-majority in the 17th Congress to pass socioeconomic measures aggravating the country\u2019s jobs crisis, poverty, and underdevelopment. More and harsher ones loom […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2023,2022,1876,355,2033,347,1258,2031,2032,180,116,83,2024,656,1903,1006],"class_list":["post-8062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","tag-17th-congress","tag-18th-congress","tag-2019-midterm-elections","tag-charter-change","tag-civil-and-political-rights","tag-duterte-administration","tag-educational-institutions","tag-human-security-act","tag-land-and-natural-resources","tag-neoliberal-policies","tag-philippine-economy","tag-privatization","tag-public-services-act","tag-public-utilities","tag-rice-tariffication-law","tag-train","wpautop"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-23 13:13:04","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8062"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8064,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8062\/revisions\/8064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibon.org\/tl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}