Presidential suck-ups to business.
Herman Tiu Laurel, November 1, 2015, Sunday.
A week
ago the top presidential candidates bared their economic plans at the 2-day
41-st Philippine Business Conference & Expo at a Manila hotel carrying “One.
Global. Filipino: Synergies in partnerships for Global Competitiveness”.
Essentially,
aside from the flap with Grace Poe who declined upon hearing the event was on a
debate format but suddenly popped up when it was changed to simple exposition,
the candidates lines “showed no marked departure from current policies, validating analyst expectations of
continuity under a new political leadership that would provide solid ground for
continued strong growth” a report by Victor V. Saulon of the Manila Times
described.
The situation
reminded us of a quote from Mark Twain who said once, “If voting made any
difference they wouldn’t let us do it.” Or 20th century American
political activist Emma Goldman who said, “If voting changed anything they’d
make it illegal.”
The
real power in Philippine society today is in the hands of Big Business
connected to the global financial oligarchy. In the hands of cold-hearted businessmen
especially the likes of the Ayalas, Aboitizes, Pangilinan, Lopezes, et al who have
taken public utilities like electricity, water, public transportation
infrastructure as cash cows for their financial empires – with Wall Street
financiers such as Goldman Sachs etc. behind and the U.S. State Department’s
protection racket.
