$1B loan to IMF is the height of Aquino's insensitivity and hypocrisy – GWP Rep. Emmi De Jesus

“Ang pagpapautang ng $1B sa International Monetary Fund para diumano tumulong sa pagsalba ng bumabagsak na ekonomya ng mundo ay sukdulan na ng pagyurak ng Pangulo sa dangal ng mahihirap na Pilipino. It is the height of his pagpapalapad ng papel at the expense of the poor,” said GWP Rep. Emmi De Jesus on President Aquino’s pledge to pitch in $1 billion (P42.26 billion) from the country's international reserves to help bail out failing European economies.

"The loan is very insulting to workers who have endlessly asked for a P125 wage increase that Aquino has repeatedly rejected. It is an affront to the poor who can barely make both ends meet. It is the height of insensitivity when, in the face of majority of poor Filipinos who are in dire need of affordable and even free basic social services, the Aquino administration continues to renege on its constitutionally-mandated responsibility to deliver quality social services," she added.

The Gabriela solon further remarked that the government should stop sending signals that our economy is robust while our poor do not have liveable wages, adequate housing, could barely feed their family with nutritious food, could hardly send their children to school, and an increasing number of mothers and infants die of preventable diseases.

“The money could be used to fund the construction of additional classrooms to accommodate millions of Filipino youths in elementary and secondary education, upgrade public hospitals and health centers and hire hundreds of doctors and nurses to deliver basic health services especially to the poor. Instead of bailing out rich corporations and executives in troubled European economies, the Aquino government should allocate the fund to fill-in the gaps of basic social services,” ended the Gabriela solon. ###