Dark Legacies: The Economy Under Arroyo Published on June 15, 2010

By SONNY AFRICA
Posted by Bulatlat.com

IBON Features–The Arroyo administration will be remembered for lost ground on important measures of development and progress in the face of economic growth. Filipinos are worse off today than when President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo came to power nine years ago.

Unemployment is at record sustained highs, household real income declined, poverty increased, inequality worsened, and Filipinos were forced abroad in unprecedented numbers. Prospects have been undermined by the steady erosion of domestic manufacturing and agriculture, a rapidly deepening fiscal crisis, and defeatist international trade and investment policies. In contrast, the profits of the country’s biggest corporations and the wealth of its richest families have continued to improve substantially.

This disturbing divergence between the fortunes of a few and the welfare of the many is the most troubling legacy that the Arroyo presidency leaves behind– and among the greatest challenges that the incoming Aquino administration has to confront to deliver any real change.... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://www.bulatlat.com/main/2010/06/15/dark-legacies-the-economy-under-arroyo-2/