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10-yr debt moratorium will give govt P3 trillion
13 September 2004 09:24 AM

By GERRY ALBERT CORPUZ
of Bulatlat

THE government can generate P3 trillion in total savings and avert the looming collapse of the economy if it stops paying the country’s debts for at least 10 years. This was the main argument raised by the fisher-folk alliance Pamalakaya in its proposal for Congress to pass a law on 10-year debt moratorium.

Fernando Hicap, chair of Pamalakaya, said in a forum: “The 10-year debt moratorium law if translated to national policy would enable the government to save at least P3 trillion in next 10 years. The savings could be used in mass creation of jobs and opportunities and raise productivity and standard of living of both urban and rural people nationwide.”

Hicap issued the challenge during the launch of the anti-tax coalition Alliance of Concerned Citizens Opposed to Unjust, New Taxes (Account).

Pamalakaya kicked off a legislative campaign to convince legislators about the pet bill seeking a 10-year respite from the religious practice of debt servicing which has eaten up nearly two-thirds or 66.66 percent of the national budget.

Hicap’s group is counting on the support of the militant party list bloc in the House composed of Bayan Muna party list representatives Satur Ocampo, Teddy Casiño and Joel Virador, Anakpawis party list solons Crispin Beltran and Rafael Mariano and Liza Maza of Gabriela Women’s Party.

The government will peg payment of the country’s debts to one-third or 33 percent of the national budget as reflected in its 2005 proposed national budget. For next year, the government has set aside P 310.3 billion out of the P901 billion total national budget.

But Pamalakaya said the decision to reduce debt servicing to 33 percent of the national budget will not make any significant impact in resolving the present economic and fiscal woes. The best the government can do, the group said, is to pass a 10-year debt moratorium at the minimum or enact debt repudiation of all fraudulent loans at the maximum.

“The debt issue is a political one,” Pamalakaya said. “What the government need is strong political will, big fighting heart and high sense of patriotism to a score a major victory for the people and debt-burdened economy.”

Moronic

Rep. Eduardo Zialcita was even more stinging against the government policy on debt servicing. He said for every one peso the government shells out for debt payments, 48 centavos go to interest payment of loans, which he described as fraudulent and criminal loans.

He said next year, 58 centavos of every one peso the government allocates for debt payment will go to payment of interest alone.

“The government’s debt policy is a criminal act, immoral and sometimes moronic,” Zialcite said. “Why can’t the government choose life over debt and if necessary repudiate these anomalous loans. It must be stopped and the government should pursue accountability of public officials behind those bad and anomalous debts.”

The congressman, a convenor of Alliance of Legislators Against Regressive Taxes (Alert), also lambasted the government’s debt policy on the mothballed Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) and cited it as an example on how the government had wasted taxpayers money.

He said the government is spending roughly P210 million a month or P2.4 billion a year for interest payment of the controversial nuclear power plant in Morong, Bataan.

It would take a lifetime to the BNPP loans unless the government negotiate or renegotiate the mode of payment in our own people’s terms or better repudiate payment of outstanding debts, Zialcita said.

Sign up

Meanwhile, Renato Reyes Jr., Account convenor and Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) secretary general said anti-tax groups belonging to Account coalition would lead a nationwide signature campaign against Malacanang’s new tax measures.

Account, which is composed of concerned groups, individuals, former government officials, lawmakers and consumer organizations, expects to gather tens of thousands of signatures against unjust taxes which will be submitted to Congress, the Malacañang presidential office and other tax-related agencies of the government.

Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. leads the cast of Account among the individual members of the group which include Zialcita, Bayan Muna party list representatives Casiño and Satur Ocampo; anti-Estrada movement stalwart Carmen Deunida, Vice chair of Anakpawis party list; former budget secretary Salvador Enriquez Jr.; former Bureau of Internal Revenue commissioner Liwayway Vinzons-Chato, Trixie Concepcion of Txt Power; labor leader and Kilusang Mayo Uno chair Elmer Labog; and peasant activist and Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) secretary general Danilo Ramos.

“Tax paying citizens will be involved in this advocacy campaign against unjust new taxes through petition signing and other forms of protest” Reyes said. A copy of Account’s statement of unity urged the President and Congress not to impose new and additional taxes and feeds to the people at this time.

Account said the Arroyo administration should muster the political will to address the immediate and long-term causes of the country’s fiscal crisis. He said government revenue collecting agencies should prioritize the big-time evaders, plug the loopholes and tax leakages and eliminate graft and corruption in their ranks.

“As much as P400 billion is lost annually due to drastic cuts in import duties and tariffs and fiscal incentives awarded to foreign investors on top of VAT and income tax evasion and tax credit scams and leakages prevalent in the country’s taxation system,” Account added.

Txt Power

Fresh from a major triumph against the proposed tax on text, the group TxtPower will also spearhead a text campaign against unjust taxes. “We call on all texters to send their opposition to GMA’s hotline numbers. Please send ‘Tax Me Not: No 2 New Taxes to 0919898462, 09198984622 and 09178398462,” the group’s statement said.

The group’s spokesperson said: “Be it gas tax or other terror taxes, the people can count on us in opposing new burdens that make life even more intolerable especially to workers, farmers, the youth and professionals. President Arroyo is hitting the poor most with these taxes.”

Txt Power is also supporting the debt moratorium proposal of other militant groups adding that the government would do some awesome good by declaring a moratorium on billions of pesos in foreign debt allocations that only go to payment of onerous and fraudulent debts.

The group National Network of Agrarian Reform Advocates (Nnara)-Youth Sector blamed former presidents Fidel Ramos and Joseph Estrada and President Arroyo over the country’s fiscal mess. The group’s secretary general Reggie Vallejos said are grossly accountable for the increasing total debts the country is facing at the moment.

“Ramos, Estrada and Arroyo should be held accountable for the present financial crunch and looming economic crash. The three stooges and protégés of imperialist globalization pushed this country to chronic crisis and economic catastrophe,” Vallejos said.

Vallejos said from 1997 to 2003, the government’s total debt rose to P 5.39 trillion or an increase of P2 trillion in six years. He said the country’s government-owned-and-controlled corporations (GOCCs) accounted for 37 percent of the two trillion increase in total debts with 43 percent accounted for by the national government and 19 percent due to depreciation of peso.
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Printed from the website of Mindanao Gold Star Daily and the Daily Tribune

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