GROUPS UNITE VS PRIVATIZATION OF PUBLIC SERVICES

PROGRESSIVE groups unite in expressing their opposition against the expanding privatization of basic public services.

The groups, composed of the Philippine Movement for Climate Justice (PMCJ), Freedom for Debt Coalition (FDC), Sanlakas, Partido Lakas ng Masa (PLM), women’s group, Oryang, National Confederation of Labor (NCL), Federation of Free Workers (FFW), Puso ng NAIA, Socialista, Katipunan, and the UP Asian Center protested the broadening privatization of public services such as water, electricity, transportation, and other infrastructure which they described as “full of anomalies, nepotism, and widespread corruption.”

“It is clear that the government’s privatization policy is a blatant admission of its failure to fulfill its obligation to the people to deliver fast, quality, and affordable public services,” said Glecy Naquita, lead organizer of the conference.        

“What is worse, what many do not know, is a more sophisticated but more widespread form of corruption resulting from nepotism, where ultra-billionaire businessmen who are close to those in power are involved,” Naquita added.

“Instead of improving public administration, they are giving privileges to big corporations and spreading profiteering from the increased expenses of the people,” she added.

The groups condemned the privatization of the irrigation service under the Villars’ Prime Water, the power plant in Pagbilao, Quezon under the Aboitiz’s, and the NAIA airport under Ramon Ang.

Ang and Aboitiz are both allies of the Marcos administration, they said.

The progressive groups cited as an example of what they called “commercialization of services under privatization”  the more than 500 percent increase in fees at NAIA under its private contractor.

According to the groups, there was no significant changes implemented at the national airport a year after the government handed over its management to a private service provider.