Malacañang continues to express confidence that the P330
billion stimulus package unveiled by Gloria Arroyo this year will be enough to
sustain growth in the face the global economic slowdown.
Most analysts are unconvinced spending our way out of the
looming crisis is the answer, assuming the P330 billion could be raised. The
doubts of the skeptics have grown stronger now that the P330 million figure
appears to have been plucked out of thin air.
The stimulus fund is supposed to be composed of P160 billion
in additional government spending, P100 billion from government financial
institutions, pension funds and the private sector, P40 billion in tax breaks
and P30 billion in temporary additional benefits from the Social Security
System, the Government Service Insurance System and PhilHealth.
The components that mean additional direct spending are the
P160 billion in incremental government expenditures and the P100 billion from
government financial institutions and the private sector. The P160 billion
presumably is taken care of in the 2009 budget. The P100 billion, however, is
unlikely to be available soon.
That P100 billion contribution is supposed to be shared
between the GFIs and the pension funds, on one side, and the private sector, on
the other. The SSS, GSIS, Development Bank of the Philippines and Land Bank are
supposed to contribute P12.5 billion each to come up with the P50 billion on the
side of state financial institutions. Not one of the four has anted up for the
simple reason that their funds are earmarked for their own needs and operations.
Sure, the DBP can easily come up with the P12.5 billion. But
shifting the funds would simply mean diverting the money from its original
purpose, that is, development banking. The Land Bank? It is already hard-pressed
as it is to fulfill its primary role of financing land acquisition under the
agrarian reform program.
The SSS faces a members’ revolt on fears it is "giving away"
its pension funds. The GSIS management has been quiet about the P12.5 billion
assessment, but it is probably as wary as the SSS of a backlash from members.
And now we come to the P50 billion supposed to be contributed
by the private sector. The amount was volunteered by the ass-lickers from the
Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its adjunct organizations. From
the start, we believed the commitments made by PCCI leaders in the name of the
business community were dubious. And to prove our point, to this day, not one
bank has put in any money into Gloria’s stimulus package.
