GLORIA A POOR VERSION OF LOLA BASYANG ON STORY-TELLING

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today told President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her economic team to stop bloating the administrations job creation figures that only reminds the people about the massive padding of votes in her favor during the 2004 presidential election that gave her false victory.

Pimentel said the Presidents boastful claim that her government is generating from 750,000 to 1 million new jobs a year has turned out to be a mirage in the light of survey findings consistently showing the incidence of poverty and hunger in the country is getting worse.

According to the first quarter 2007 Social Weather Stations (SWS) nationwide survey from Feb. 24 to 27, around one in five Filipino households nationwide has experienced involuntary hunger at least once in the past three months. Overall hunger remains at the record-high 19 percent last November.

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo dishonors reversed tradition of Lola Basyang by telling tall tales about the increase in jobs which is demonstrably false. At least, Lola Basyang told stories to amuse; Gloria, to confuse, Pimentel said.

With the alarming starvation problem, the opposition senator said the president and her team were caught lying and window dressing the job creation statistics.

He said this also belies their assertion that the economy is in good shape and that they have redeemed their pledge of a social payback to the long-suffering Filipinos in the form of livelihood opportunities and essential public services.

Pimentel said the truth of the matter is that the unemployment problem remains acute, as shown by the continued exodus of skilled and unskilled Filipino workers to other countries at the rate of 900,000 a year.

He said not enough quality and permanent jobs are being created because of the low level of foreign investments flowing into the Philippines compared to those in neighboring countries. Worse, he said a number of multinational or transnational companies have closed shop and transferred their factories to other countries like China and Vietnam where wage scales are more affordable and power rates are low.

Pimentel said even Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Romulo Neri has frankly admitted that the inflow of direct foreign investments into the country remains disappointing because of corruption, bureaucratic red tape and poor infrastructures.