An advocacy group – the Freedom from Debt Coalition – on Sunday batted for a people’s stimulus and a people’s economy amid the nation’s “deep financial straits.”
Rene Ofreneo, FDC president, said President Rodrigo Duterte is leaving behind P11 trillion in national debt, a large bulk of which was incurred under his administration.
At a Zoom national conference dubbed “State of the People’s Address: Kumperensiya para sa Pagbangon ng Ekonomiya at ng Bayan (#Bangon), he stressed Duterte is ending his term at a time when the economy is in recession and gross domestic product rate is at a historical low of -9.5%.
“During this time when unemployment is increasing, currently pegged at 8.7%, and COVID infections continue to spread with almost 1.4 million getting sick, a responsive recovery program from the grassroots is much needed,” he noted.
The event was organized a week before the President’s last State-of-the-Nation Address.
Manjette Lopez, FDC vice president and Sanlakas president, said the country must drastically veer away from its business-as-usual and trickle-down economics approach since it does not address the sordid circumstances of the marginalized and deprived.
She proposed that a people’s stimulus must be implemented where jobs are created, direct income support for affected individuals and household are given, and the budget for health doubled to re-build and strengthen the public health care system, particularly community-based primary health care.
She said a people’s stimulus should also include a tax holiday for struggling micro, small and medium enterprises for the next three years.
“If big corporations are granted tax holidays, it is only fair that smaller businesses also enjoy these since they account for 63% of employment,” she said.