Party [PKP 1930

Philippines Communist Party [PKP 1930]

In December 2019, cases of COVID-19 began ap-109 pearing in Wuhan City in Hubei, China, but it was only on January 1 that the Chinese government would officially confirm the outbreak. A few days later, a lockdown was imposed in Wuhan and its environs. But by then, millions of Chinese travellers were already headed to various holiday destination in China and abroad, including the Philippines. The first coronavirus cases to be reported in the Philippines at the end of January were of Chinese tourists from Wuhan, with a few of them later dying from the disease. The Philippines became the first country outside China to record a confirmed death from the disease.

The situation should not have worsened had airline flights to the Philippines from Wuhan been immediately stopped by China as part of its lockdown. News reports that month already mentioned a mysterious epidemic spreading from Hubei, with Vietnam and Laos immediately closing their border with China, and even HongKong citizens demanding a stop to Chinese arrrivals. However, China allowed flights to the Philippines from Wuhan and other affected cities to continue for the whole month of February, bringing human “time bombs” spreading the disease.

President Duterte, with his pro-China orientation, belittled the threat of the then mysterious epidemic, and did not listen to the rising demand for an end to flights from China. What appeared to be more important then was the income of the airline and tourism businesses. Only with the World Health Organization’s declaration of a COVID-19 pandemic on March 11, did the Duterte administration act to totally stop the entry of travellers from China and other gravely-affected countries, and to initiate measures to control the spread of the pandemic in the Philippines.

As expected, a militarized response was imposed, with a nationwide lockdown and the appointment of around 40 retired military and police generals to several inter-agency “task forces” for particular areas of civilian control, transportation control, community surveys, information dissemination, etc. The Philippine Health Insurance Corporation (PhilHealth) which is attached to the Department of Health, and is headed by retired Gen. Ricardo Morales who is a close friend of Duterte, took center stage in the task of assisting COVID-19 victims.

As in other neocolonial capitalist countries, health services are primarily dependent upon the profit motivation of private hospitals, the private pharmaceutical industry, the private health insurance companies, and the private manufacturers of medical machineries and equipment. Those who cannot pay the pri-

110 vate health providers cannot expect any real health service. With millions losing their jobs due to extended lock-downs, even the provision of food for their hungry families and the payment of rent for shelter is more daunting. The lockdown and the immediate loss of jobs of millions showed the utter inability of a neocolonial capitalist system to respond to the needs of the working peoples in the face of the pandemic and the economic crisis. There was no immediate plan to help those who lost their jobs and livelihoods, and it took a month before food packs and some cash assistance could be distributed to the poorest communities. Hospitals (particularly government hospitals) lacked or had no test kits, or even personal protective equipment for their front-liners. Until February, test specimens had to be sent to Australia to confirm if patients had COVID-19. As the months progressed, it became apparent that there was a great lack in hospital beds (particularly intensive care units), respirators, anti-viral medicines, quarantine facilities and medical personnel. Poor patients had to heal themselves in any way they can, even using un-approved herbal concoctions, and just hoping that PhilHealth and other social welfare assistance could reduce the hospital bills they have to settle in case they survive.

lining poCkets in pandemiC times

As usual under capitalism, emergency situations are always convenient occasions for big-time crooks in the government and private sectors to further line their pockets. The Department of Health (DOH) bought testing equipment, extraction instruments, tissue culture kits, swab testing kits, reagents and consumables, not directly from Chinese manufacturers, but from local Chinese distributors in sweetheart deals which almost tripled the prices.

PhilHealth also got a budget of P16-Billion Philippine pesos (around USD$320-Million) in emergency funds to subsidize COVID-19 tests. Each test had an approved cost of P8,150.00 (around USD$160.00), although the actual cost is only around one-fourth of that amount. Even before implementing rules for the subsidy were set, PhilHealth immediately released P13-Billion (around USD$260-Million) to favored hospitals and clinics as advanced payment for tests at the hyper-inflated price of P8,150.00 each.

These were also sweetheart deals, with PhilHealth officials and private hospital and clinic owners mutually seizing the opportunity for self-aggrandizement in the face of the crisis. The cash advances are only subject to liquidation by submitting proof of purchase of test kits, personal protective equipment, supplies, etc. With the height of callousness and greed, some of the favored private clinics (such as dialysis and maternity centers) were not even authorized to accept and test COVID-19 patients.

PhilHealth is also mandated to subsidize hospital expenses of COVID-19 patients. But in some cases, hospital patients who die of other causes are declared as COVID-19 victims, with the family of the deceased receiving a bereavement assistance of P10,000.00 (USD$200.00), while the complicit hospital owner gets the subsidy of P150,000.00 (USD$3,000.00). Incidentally, PhilHealth is known for its past scams involving mutual payoffs under sweetheart deals with medical institutions for fictitious dialysis sessions and cataract surgeries, as well as other fabricated procedures on ghost patients.

However, Health Secretary Francisco Duque III immediately defended the PhilHealth cash advance scheme for private hospitals and clinics, by saying that the actual test cost could be reduced in case the private hospital or clinic used test kits donated by the DOH or private donors. For his part, President Duterte immediately absolved Secretary Duque of any cloud of corruption, saying that Duque cannot be involved in any corrupt deal because Duque is already very rich.

reopening Business despite dangers

The reopening of some essential business and transport operations at the start of June was demanded by the capitalists to restart their “business-as-usual” process of wealth accumulation, and to step-down the government programs of distributing some cash and food assistance for locked-down poor families. But this reopening of business immediately led to a new wave of infections, particularly in the epidemic centers of Metropolitan Manila, Metropolitan Cebu, and Davao City. The limited transportation facilities initially allowed were swamped by commuters, despite all the warnings and threats against violators of “social distancing”.

Most of the reopened businesses involved jobs which require close regular inter-action with people, which is a high risk factor in COVID-19 transmission. Workers in the food, agriculture, manufacturing and service sectors, as well as construction workers, security guards, drivers and other low-paid manual workers, are in production processes where “social-distancing” can hardly be practised.

A spike in the number of infections also happened due to the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of

dismissed Filipino overseas workers from countries gravely affected by the pandemic (the Middle East, Europe and the USA). Of around 24,000 who arrived in one month, around 600 (2.5%) tested positive for COVID-19, and had to undergo hospital treatment. Over a dozen cruise ships at the anchorage area of Manila Bay also served as quarantine quarters for thousands of Filipino crewmembers who lost their jobs, so as not to overwhelm government quarantine and isolation facilities in Metropolitan Manila.

One out of every 5 persons infected with COVID-19 in the Philippines is a medical staffer. With the death of many doctors, more hospitals are resorting to online “tele-medicine” services, with their doctors located in segregated hospital rooms outside the wards, thus leaving nurses and other ward staffers at the most dangerous frontline of patient care.

Towards the end of October 2020, the Philippines has a total of around 380,000 COVID-19 infections, with around 42,800 active cases, around 330,000 recoveries and 7,200 deaths. The Philippines has the second highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Southeast Asia (after Indonesia), and ranks 7th in Asia and 20th in the world. Up to now, with around 4.75-Million tests already administered on 4.47-Million individuals, the government has not yet set a maximum price for each test, thus allowing private hospitals to dictate prices for maximum profitability.

soCial Costs of the Crisis

As a result of the capitalist crisis and the pandemic-induced rise in unemployment, millions of Filipinos are falling into poverty, millions are going hungry, millions are on the edge of eviction, and millions of students have stopped schooling. According to the World Bank, around 3-Million workers in the Philippines will be permanently unemployed throughout this year, while around 1.6-Million Overseas Filipino Workers will not be able to find any work abroad this year.

According to surveys of the Social Weather Station (SWS), the nationwide hunger incidence was at 8.8% of families in December 2019, 16.7% in May 2020, 20.9% in July 2020, and 30.7% in mid-September 2020. As of mid-September, the estimated number of families in moderate hunger (experienced only a few times in the past 3 months) is 5.5-million, while the estimated number of families in severe hunger (often or always during the past 3 months) is 2.2-million. This is a total of 7.7-million families experiencing “involuntary hunger” due to lack of food, due in turn to lack of money to purchase food. There is a grave danger of stunting and mental retardation among children of these hungry families.

In public schools from kindergarten to senior high school, only 24.35-Million students enrolled this school year. This means that more than 3-Million students did not enroll due to their parents’ lack of money to spend for their distance-learning expenses. Many parents of students in cities cannot afford to buy the celfone or tablet-computer needed for distance learning, and very few cities are able to provide these for their students. Internet/wi-fi loads for each 5-hour day of virtual classes thru video-conferencing platfoms cost around P100.00 (around USD$2.00) which is too costly for an ordinary family on lockdown.

The situation in private schools is worse, with actual enrollment figures showing that less than half of learners (only 2.1-million, compared with last year’s enrollment of 4.3-million) have enrolled this school year. It was expected that the other half of private school students would transfer to public schools as the pandemic further affects the financial situation of Filipino families. However, as the enrolment in public schools this school year has shown, more than 3-Million students have dropped out, with serious consequences on their future as members of the labor force.

government Borrowings and assistanCe in response to the pandemiC

The government is set to borrow P3-Trillion (USD$60-Billion) this year, and the same amount next year, to finance the swelling budget deficit, as COVID-19 response-related expenses ballooned while tax and non-tax revenues remained weak. Three-fourths of the borrowings will come from the sale of government securities inside the country, and the rest from offshore debt paper issuances and foreign loans. For 2020 alone, the national government’s oustanding debt will jump to a record P10.16-Trillion, with the debt expected to reach P12-Trillion by the end of next year (or 2.7 times the 2021 budget of P4.5-Trillion).

The combined impact of higher debt financing requirements and stagnating economic situation will further weaken the Duterte administration, especially since the IMF and World Bank, the 2 main interventionist lenders in the world, will be the joint sources of around 12% of expected loans and Official Development Assistance (ODA) to the Philippines.

112 this year were used to give dole-outs ranging from

P5,000.00 to P8,000.00 for each family head who lost a job or livelihood. According to Gen. Rolando Bautista, Secretary of the Department of Social Welfare and

Development, around 18-Million family heads were assisted in the first tranche, and around 14-Million in the second tranche. These dole-outs, although very limited, have raised popular support for Duterte, but no additional dole-out can now be dangled. The capitalist class is demanding that any government assistance should now go to them. To help the foreign and local bankers and other parasites who lord it over our country, the government is proposing a bigtime tax break for the capitalist class for the next 5 years. The proposed law, the Corporate

Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises, will cut the corporate net income tax rate from the present 30% to only 25% for this year, and will further cut this tax rate by 1% per year up to a low of 20% by 2025. This would free up around P42-Billion (around US-

D$84-Million) in business capital for 2020 alone (instead of going to the government as taxes). For the next 5 years from 2021 to 2025, this measure would free up some P625-Billion (around USD$12.5-Billion) in resources in the hands of the capitalists. This will mean foregone revenues for the already tax-starved government, which the government will try to recover by selling off (i.e., privatizing) more state assets, and by increasing the “value-added” or consumption tax which the poor masses of our people will have to pay for every item they buy or for every service that they would avail of. Truly, it is the workers and other poor sectors of our people who carry the burden of creating the resources that the government grants as incentives for the capitalist class.

soCialism as the only solution to the pandemiC and the Capitalist Crisis

In the face of the grave threat to the lives and livelihoods of the working peoples posed by the pandemic, and the inability of the capitalist class and their governments to adequately protect the peoples, communist parties need to present to the peoples the alternative –- the solution through a break from the capitalist system and the building of socialism. Socialism is the only solution to the pandemic and the capitalist crisis, and a first step is the nationalization or socialization of all private hospitals and health institutions, and their integration into a central program of confronting the pandemic, under the principle that health is a basic human right of everyone.

Secondly, banks, key industries and service sectors also need to be nationalized or socialized in order to strengthen the people’s capability to confront the pandemic. The capitalist government policy of assisting private business has to be ended, and all resources harnessed instead to safeguard the health of the people. Water and electricity distribution, telecommunication services, and railways and tollways, also have to be returned to the state sector, so that their fabulous profits could be used for social services instead of remaining in the pockets of the oligarchy.

Centralized scientific planning has to be undertaken, initially on the basis of nationalized or socialized companies, for social welfare delivery. A scientific land use policy has to be set, immediately giving sufficient public lands for the construction of government hospitals with dormitories and housing for poor medical frontliners. Transportation facilities (including shipping and airlines) have to be integrated for social service delivery The National Food Authority, which was emasculated by private cartels represented in congress, has to be reinvigorated to provide food security for the whole country.

An extensive network of community health units should be set up for the testing and treatment of COVID-19, and for nationwide vaccination immediately upon approval of safe and effective vaccines. It is the task of a socialist government to harness and support scientists focusing on the development of treatments and vaccines for COVID-19 and any other health risks that may confront us in the future.

Health services and social security benefits should be free for everyone. Free medical services should be available not only in hospitals, but in all health units in communities, schools and work places. Personal protective equipment and disinfectants should be given free to everyone wherever diseases and epidemics may arise.

State and religion should be separated, with religious intervention in state affairs (such as in scientific instruction and health services) being banned. Anti-scientific claims about miraculous cures coming from blessings and incantations of religious personalities should be banned. Churches and religious organizations should not be allowed to own mass media, to mitigate religious animosities and prevent anti-scientific preachings.

Government shall ensure the capability to provide the basic needs of the people, to stamp out panic-buying and hoarding. Food, medicines, housing, water, electricity and internet/wi-fi connectivity shall be ensured for all. The socialist culture of sharing and

solidarity with those in greater need shall be enriched.

Subsidies shall be provided for the production of the people’s needs. Production shall be guided by the principle of providing for the people’s needs. Work will be assured for every worker, with salaries and benefits in times of lock-downs. Lock-downs will also mean the suspension of rental payments, no eviction for non-payment of rent, and no cutting off of water, electricity and internet/wi-fi services for non-payment for these services.

Socialism is a system of hope for all working peoples, a system of trust in science and self-reliance. It is the opposite of the fear, panic and frustration of the working peoples under capitalism. A break with the capitalist system, and the building of socialism – primarily the empowerment of the working peoples – is the solution to ending the pandemic and the economic crisis everywhere.