The Freedom from Debt Coalition today criticized Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. for floating the idea of imposing the presidential veto power over the decision of the House of Representatives to slash by P17.8 billion the foreign debt service appropriation in the 2008 national government budget.
FDC president Ana Maria R. Nemenzo said the “signal about what action [Malacañang] might take” sent by Secretary Andaya last Thursday is not only a threat to the independence and integrity of the Congress, but also a violation of the rights of the people to enjoy the taxes they pay through better and quality social and economic services.
“The statement of Secretary Andaya is an insult to the Congress and the beneficiaries of these debt service cuts—the taxpayers,” stressed Nemenzo, adding that the budget secretary is “either playing dumb or fooling the public.”
FDC criticized Secretary Andaya for saying that the reallocation of any cuts from interest payment would translate into additional spending and calling it “unconstitutional.”
“What is he talking about? Both the Senate and the House of Representatives maintained the total 2008 national government budget of P1.227 trillion. There is no additional spending, only re-channeling of funds from bloated foreign debt service pegged at a very high exchange rate to essential services,” said Nemenzo.
The debt watchdog explained that if the government considers pegging the peso-dollar exchange rate at a more realistic level of P42 to a dollar, striking-out interest payments for proposed loans not covered by automatic appropriations law on debt servicing worth P5.1 billion, and suspending interest payments for illegitimate debts ranging from P4 to P6 billion, then there will be enough funds for basic and higher education, health care, environment and agriculture.
“We have identified more than P21-billion foreign debt service-related budget as a feasible and additional source of financing for social and economic services,” stressed Nemenzo.
Malacañang’s proposed foreign debt service budget is pegged at P46 - P48 to a dollar.
For his part, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Nene" Q. Pimentel, Jr. issued a challenge to Congress Friday “to muster its political will to repeal the moribund martial law decree on automatic appropriation for debt payments to remove legal doubts whenever the legislature decides to reduce the debt service allocation in the annual budget.”
He debunked the Palace's argument that the country's credit-worthiness will be shattered if the automatic appropriation law for debt payments, as embodied in Presidential Decree 1177 issued by the late President Ferdinand Marcos, will be rescinded. PD 117 is now part of Section 26 (b) Book 6 of the Revised Administrative Code of 1987.
"Mr. Marcos is long gone. And yet, we continue to adhere to this kind of an imposition on the theory that we cannot borrow anymore if we do away with the law on automatic repayment of our debt," he said.
"That is not necessarily correct. The capacity of the country to pay is the primary consideration why lenders would extend to us loans that we need, and we have to justify the loans from time to time," Pimentel said.
FDC’s Nemenzo agreed with Pimentel, saying that Congress should fight to reclaim its “power of the purse” from the executive branch.
“The warning issued by Secretary Andaya is an indication that the executive department does not respect the independence of both Houses of Congress. The need to reclaim that power from a perceived ‘most corrupt’ president is very urgent,” said Nemenzo.
No comments:
Post a Comment