Dispatch from Crame No. 881:
Sen. Leila M. de Lima's Statement on the Latest SWS Survey Showing Record-High Joblessness in PH

8/18/20

Our battered economy is now crippling the poor. That's what the recent SWS survey is showing, with 45.5 percent of our kababayan now jobless. To claim that this is due to COVID-19 alone is plainly wrong!

This is a combined result of the health crisis and Duterte's utter lack of planning and foresight, or simply stupidity to leverage our health and safety with China. Isinubo tayo sa krisis para lang hindi masaktan ang China. At nang may krisis na, kinenkoy-kenkoy pa ang pagresponde. Iyan ang nangyari!

This is just one sector among many, as our health, education, transportation, agriculture and local manufacturing industries are also in critical condition. Marami sa kababayan natin ngayon hindi lang walang trabaho, gaya ng mga tsuper, wala na ring makain. Gutom na, nakaumang pa ang pangamba sa sakit.

And as if these are not enough, the people's money is being pillaged by the legion of callous plunderers and prolific thieves germinating in Duterte's administration. Ito ang salot na hindi malulunasan ng kahit anong bakuna.

Hindi COVID-19 lang problema, kundi si Duterte mismo ay malala. Hindi lang tayo ang dumadaan sa parehong krisis. Pero ang mga karatig bansa natin economic recovery na ang tinatahak. Tayo dapa na, gumagrabe pa.

Ang maysakit bumubuti kapag naaalagaan, at lumalala kapag hindi inaasikaso. Sa halip na mala-surgical operation ang ginawa sa pagtugon sa krisis, itong si Duterte parang si Mang Kepweng na patawas-tawas. Depende pa kung kailan niya gusto at kailan siya gising.

By the figures, the economy is dramatically shrinking, not in billions, but in trillions. Combined, we are losing billions in government corruption and stand to shed trillions in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The P1.3 trillion government stimulus programs could be a powerful impetus to economic recovery, provided that their implementation is shielded from political gimmickry and from Duterte's horde of buwaya. Walang puso ang mga ito, nanakawan kahit ano. ###

(Access the handwritten version of Dispatch from Crame No. 881, here: https://issuu.com/senatorleilam.delima/docs/dispatch_no._881)