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Militants urge lawmakers to go hardline vs. debt servicing next year
P 459 B for debt payments since January, a shocking figure- Pamalakaya

A shocking figure and an 11 intensity earthquake.

This was how the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Thursday reacted to news reports that the national government had spent P 459 billion of taxpayers’ money to debt servicing from January to August this year.

“This is injustice to the highest order. We are paying foreign and domestic debts which did not benefit the Filipino people, and yet, the national government is prioritizing this immoral and illegitimate undertaking depriving millions of Filipino the basic services they need and deserved,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

Pamalakaya’s Hicap urged lawmakers to go hardline against the proposed budget for debt servicing in 2008, adding that any legislative action this time should work either for debt repudiation or debt moratorium to stop such grandmother of all plunder in the country.

“Congress should enact a killing piece of legislation that would free us from the bondage of debt servicing dictated upon us by International Monetary Fund and the World Bank and their corporate clients all over the world,” the militant leader said.

“This is a tough act to follow, but national interest dictates our lawmakers to perform in accordance with the collective will of more than 87 million Filipinos. That’s their assignment and they should do their job without fear and with fervor, nothing more, nothing less,” Hicap added.

The Bureau of Treasury (BTr) revealed the latest figure on debt servicing last Tuesday. According to BTr, P 106.3 B was spent for interest payments for domestic loans from January to August, while P 87.2 B was spent for interest payments for foreign borrowings during the same period.

The BTr said the government spent P 266.8 B for principal payment of domestic debts and
P 35.1 B for foreign obligations also during the same period. The government has allocated
P 601.7 B for debt servicing this year, of which, P 303.3 B or 4.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) would for interest payments and P 298.4 B would be used to service principal loans.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said the government was able to save P 25 billion in interest payments during the first eight months of the year because of the continued appreciation of the local currency against the dollar.

According to the estimates of Department of Finance (DoF), the Philippine saves as much as
P 4.2 B in debt service requirement for every P 1 appreciation against the green bucks. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 03:11 | link | comments |

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