Exports of Philippine-grown bananas and pineapples, most of them from the Davao region and other parts of Mindanao, may increase with the implementation of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA), but it will benefit agribusiness transnational corporations and not Filipino growers, according to independent think-tank Ibon Foundation.
By Sonny Africa
IBON Research Head
MANILA — No one disputes that the Philippines is mired in economic and political crises. There is endemic poverty that despite government hype everyone knows is nowhere near being overcome. Around 65 million Filipinos struggle to live on P96 or less a day, according to the latest 2003 Family Income and Expenditure Survey (FIES) of the National Statistics Office (NSO). The net worth of just the ten richest Filipinos is equivalent to the combined annual income of the poorest 49 million Filipinos. The situation can only get worse with corporate profits rising even as joblessness is at a sustained historic high.