MAPAGPALAYANG KAISIPAN SA MALAYANG PAHAYAGAN Setyembre-Disyembre 2017
WAR BOUND Dutertenomics and the 2018 national budget \\ Quimberlyn Ranchez
W
ar is an art, and President Rodrigo Duterte and his allies sure know how to acquire the materiels they need to master their craft.
With the congress supermajority railroading the 2018 national budget and the new tax reform bill, plus the support from major foreign powers, Duterte’s wars will be funded generously. NOT JUSTIFIED BUT INTENSIFIED The 2018 national budget paved the way in fortifying the US-Duterte regime’s “kill, kill, kill” program. It has allotted Php 313 billion worth of taxpayers’ money, funding the implementation of
counterinsurgency program Oplan Kapayapaan and the war on drugs. Duterte’s war chest includes Php 3.4 billion for paramilitary groups to continue their operations in peasant and Lumad communities. These groups serve as instruments in inflicting terror, and perpetrating human rights violations in farflung communities, under the direct control of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP). “The whole budget for Oplan
Kapayapaan is possibly meant to promote and expand martial law, while continuing the military war against the poor peasants, Moro and indigenous communities, human rights leaders, progressive organizations, and revolutionary movements” KARAPATAN stated. To support Duterte’s war on drugs campaign, the 2018 national budget has allocated Php 1.4 billion continued to page 2