Women’s labor group, Kilusan ng Manggagawang Kababaihan (KMK) blasted the “Bagong Pilipinas” slogan of Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. regime, saying that the current government foreign policy remains the same: It still sells the country’s patrimony and sovereignty to foreign powers, especially the United States.
“There’s nothing new about pawning the Philippines [to foreign economic powers],” said KMK spokesperson Jaq Ruiz in a statement, in Filipino. “This ‘Bagong Pilipinas’ hype by Marcos Jr. is a big delusion [of the government] to conceal the burgeoning problem of poverty of our people while maintaining its status as a lapdog for imperialist powers.”
The statement was issued in line with the celebration of the 126th anniversary of the Philippines’ independence from Spain.
Ruiz explained that for the Philippines to enjoy full independence, it should free itself from the influence of the world’s economic superpowers like the US and China, and ensure that our political, cultural, economic, and even military policies are 100% free from foreign control.
The labor leader said that until now, the imposition of “neoliberal” policies has further intensified the country’s subjugation to foreign powers by suppressing the revolutionary consciousness of Filipinos and thwarting their efforts to pursue national democratic programs or reforms that promote the interests of the majority of the country’s population such as agrarian reform, national industrialization, and meaningful wage increase, among others.
Ruiz also furthered that the alleged subservience of the Marcos Jr. regime to foreign control, particularly of the US, is its support to the proposed amendments of the 1987 Constitution which will eventually open more key industries and even land ownership to multinational or foreign companies, specifically, US-based business conglomerates.
Meanwhile, KMK also lambasted the false narrative being peddled on media and other platforms that says speaking against US imperialism “dilutes” the ongoing Chinese aggression in the context of the West Philippine Sea.
Ruiz said that workers, especially women, condemn the ongoing harassment by members of the Chinese Coast Guard and militia against local fisherfolk since it is against the existing international and local maritime laws.
“What we are calling for is the protection of our national sovereignty and resolving the [WPS] issue, not by pushing for a war – like what the US is currently doing – but by diplomatically implementing the Hague Arbitration ruling, which favors the Philippines, in 2016,” she said. (NOEL SALES BARCELONA)
