Mining, Climate, Change and

Pandemics
ALYANSA TIGIL MINA – Lecture Discussion
Sept 26, 2020
Tom Villarin, AKBAYAN Party List
Pandemic unraveled continuing crisis
 The 2008 Global Financial Crisis caused massive public sector debts and governments imposed
authority measures in Europe while pensions and savings of the ordinary workers were wiped
out
 Big banks and the financial sector were given bailouts by the US Federal Reserve and infusion
of credit money from China, thus staving off capitalism’s crisis
 Prior to pandemic, “slowbalization” due to US-China trade/tariff wars, decartelization of oil
supply bringing down world prices, deepest decline in investments since Great Depression
 Global debt was rising while big corporations, led by BigTech, amassing idle profits valued at
$4.3-T in 2019 alone
 Climate change due to overproduction and overconsumption, destruction of ecosystems
 Rising global unemployment, oppressive labor migration policies/anti-immigration
 Covid-19 struck and world experience both “demand and supply” shocks that never happened
before (1918 Spanish flu was not global)
Third wave of authoritarian regimes: Duterte,
Erdogan, Modi, Bolsonaro, et al
 1990s-2000s: People’s movements like Occupy Wall Street, 99%v1%, Arab Spring, etc.
rallied people against neoliberal globalization; rise of nationalism as jobs became scarce for
local population (e.g. US, Europe) blaming their governments for it
 2000-present: People looked up to populist leaders and demagogues who rode on nationalist,
anti-immigration sentiments of workers who lost jobs
 Liberal democratic systems were hijacked by authoritarian populists with social base coming
from workers, poor supported by state authoritarianism (Russia and China)
 Rise of third wave of authoritarian leaders – using and winning elections (unlike second
wave authoritarians composed of military dictators and power grabbers (Marcos, et al); first
wave was the rise of fascism in Europe during the Great Depression of 1930s)
New oligarchs and crony capitalists
 Oligarchs enjoyed tremendous boost in business opportunities under Duterte
highlighted with the rise of new oligarchs with strong China connections like
Davao businessman Dennis Uy
 Political dynasties and oligarchs having a field day – Villars (Senate, DPWH)
using government to become wealthiest Filipino
 Build, build, build infrastructure projects through massive government
spending raising debts now reaching P9.3-trillion (in 2015 debt was P5.9-T)
and could climb to P12-T by 2022
 In 2019, 52-T Filipinos became dollar millionaires ($1-M to $5-M) but
majority of 109-M Filipinos only gets P20-T or less income monthly
Rise of corruption
 According to Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index 2019,
the Philippines landed in 113th spot – a decline of 14 places from its previous
rank at 99 in 2018. The Philippines tied with five other countries namely El
Salvador, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Eswatini, and Zambia.
 Budget process/public funds are being managed and treated as ‘spoils of war’
and as leverage to sway loyalties/support to the administration
 Lump sum appropriations, ‘parked projects’ in the budget items, and
discretionary releases of funds show corruption is rampant under Duterte
 Release of Imelda Marcos, former Sen Bong Revilla and most likely those
involved in the Napoles PDAF scam is happening under Duterte
COVID-19 handling reflects crisis in
governance
 A public health crisis was handled as a peace and order problem, with ex-generals
comprising the IATF instead of health professionals
 A negative 16.5% drop in economic growth highest recorded contraction in history, with
some P1.4-T lost during first half of 2020
 Stingy COVID-19 stimulus package of P370-B and another P140-B, corruption of
pandemic funds
 Government’s policy is to fully open up the economy regardless if COVID-19 cases rise
 In midst of pandemic, EJKs still rising; Duterte passed Anti-Terror Law
 Pursued media repression with closure of ABS-CBN, a blow to press freedom and our right
to information
Pre-COVID 19 policies saw
rising inequality
 Imposition of the TRAIN law, spike in global oil prices, and scarcity/inaccessibility of
rice supply led to a 10-year hike in inflation to 6.7% tapering off to 5.1% by yearender
 Growth averaged at 6.0% with strong OFW remittances, rising domestic
demand/consumption, high infrastructure spending, and stable foreign direct
investment but …
 There is economic slow down and no trickle down effect; global external factors (US-
China trade war) weighed down on economic growth
 Rising trade deficit as imports far outpaced exports, decrease in agricultural outputs
 Credit Suisse wealth index report shows rising inequality with Philippines ranking 9 th
in GINI coefficient (.864 out of 1)
 Unemployment and labor’s pains
 Unemployment and underemployment remains a big challenge under Duterte as available
jobs don’t match with available skills set; more men have no jobs than women, and those
with jobs are still looking for jobs;
 Low wages and contractualization/insecure jobs haunt most Filipino workers; 68% of
workers have no social protection, including social insurance
 Workers in IT/business process management management sector are in danger of losing jobs
due to automation
 Overseas job are in danger due to tensions in the Middle East and rising ‘nationalism’ in host
countries
 Employment in agriculture registered the biggest decline over the years and output at 8%,
lowest among all industries
 Need for a new industrial policy to address employment and decent wages, not a department
for OFWs
Political repression through fear and violence

 Duterte’s RULE BY LAW (not rule of law) is ‘weaponizing laws’ to go against critics and
opposition (use of quo warranto vs Sereno over impeachment; trumped up drug charges vs
Sen De Lima; twisting cybercrime law against Maria Ressa; using plenary powers of
Congress to block ABS-CBN franchise, etc)
 Martial law in Mindanao for two years, affirmed by SC, practically justified its use upon
the whims of a powerful executive
 ABS-CBN, the biggest and widest broadcast network, closure meant people have no more
access to timely and relevant information thereby infringing on freedom of information
and a blow to press freedom
 Red-tagging/baiting and ‘search and destroy’ military ops see a return to low intensity
conflict strategies being applied; Randall Echanis and Zara Alvarez killings; Phils
‘deadliest country’ for environmental defenders
Resurgence of extractive industries
as stimulus recovery plan
 With stingy budget and reliance on infrastructure spending, economic recovery
stimulus will focus on ‘low-hanging fruits’ – gambling, BPO, and mining
 Lifting of 12 suspended mining companies supposedly to be permanently closed for
serious environmental destruction
 DENR will push for ‘relaxed’ policies on mining and legislation will most likely by
pushed to revive mining (doing away with environmental standards)
 Waste dumping in Philippines will continue to rise with China closing down imports
of waste in 2019
 Environmental activists would be targeted for state repression to silence opposition
Use of fake news and manipulation of social
media
 Duterte’s rise abetted by the use of ALGORITHMS in FACEBOOK designed to do
micro-targeting and feeding people lies exponentially
 Rise of ‘hate speech’ in social media to attack critics and opposition, including
misogyny and inciting violence
 Mainstream mass media is under attack as a “business model” as source of news are
being shifted to troll sites and fake news as business ads now flooding social media
(away from mass media)
 Use of government machinery and resources (billions of pesos in PCOO budget and
confidential funds of OP, executive branch)
Post-COVID 19 scenarios
 Duterte will ‘literally’ survive COVID-19 despite health issues; popularity might
drop but still substantial
 More repressive measures and attacks on critics and the opposition (Leni, Risa, etc)
to deflect issue on failure in handling of COVID-19 response; VP electoral protest
hanging in the SC will be revived against Leni.
 Duterte Successor ‘most likely’ being Mayor Sara Duterte or Sen. Bong Go; but
other presidentiables are starting to emerge (e.g. Isko, Ping, Grace, VP Leni, etc);
 The SC , Comelec would be practically all Duterte appointees; the move to have a
new Automated Electoral System should be watched carefully as the danger of
‘electoral authoritarianism’ looms.
 Another power struggle in the House of Representatives (Cayetano vs Velasco for
Speaker)
THANK YOU!