THE Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) yesterday castigated
Malacañang for brushing off the initiative of private groups and concerned
citizens in forming an independent audit body that will investigate the
allegedly illegitimate loan-financed projects and programs of present and past
administrations.
The group contradicted Mala-cañang's claim that there is no
need for an independent audit body because the country's debt is already
shrinking.
FDC vice president Liddy Nacpil, who is also a member of the
Independent Citizens' Debt Audit Commission, said the reduction is negligible
and not based on sustainable factors. "Besides, the issue is not just on the
amount, but on the anomalous and illegitimate nature of the debts," she
stressed.
Nacpil reiterated that the apparent slight decrease in our
total debt is due to the weakening of the US dollar worldwide and the
pre-payment of debts.
"As we have said before, the Arroyo administration keeps
describing this phenomenon as the strengthening of the Philippine peso. The more
accurate term is the weakening of the US dollar against nearly all other
currencies," she pointed out.
"In fact, the Philippine peso is one of the last to
appreciate against the US dollar. The change in the dollar-peso exchange rates
logically resulted in a lower peso equivalent of the country's foreign debt,"
she said.
She said that government, taking advantage of the low
dollar-peso rates, has prepaid at least US$220 million of debts claimed by the
International Monetary Fund and US$72 million claimed by the Asian Development
Bank.
"The government alleges that this move is good because it
saves the country several millions in interest payments. The irony is that the
country continues to borrow in huge amounts. The truth is the government again
chooses to prioritize its commitments to foreign lenders over that of its
people's urgent needs. The funds used to prepay these debts could have been used
to expand health services, build classrooms and low-cost housing, guarantee
affordable access to clean water, provide support services for our farmers and
raise the efficiency and sufficiency of the country's food production," she
stressed.
To date, she said the national government has a debt of P3.78
trillion ($81.6 billion), with the consolidated public sector debt at 81.9
percent.
"These mean public debt claimed from each Filipino, from the
newborn to the dying, is as much as P43,487, paying P7,012 annually to service
the debt. The Philippine government, using citizens' money, shells out P1.1
million every minute just to service the country's debt," Nacpil explained.
Last Monday, various groups and concerned citizens created
the Independent Citizens' Debt Audit Commission in answer to a petition by the
People Against Illegitimate Debt (PAID!). Composed of 30 individuals led by
former Vice President Teofisto Guingona Jr., the group seeks to conduct a
critical, comprehensive, participatory and transparent examination of the
Philippine public debt and contingent liabilities based on testimonies and
inputs from affected communities, data and studies to be submitted by resource
persons and organizations, and research prepared by working groups and technical
teams.
It also aims to formulate policy proposals and
recommendations for action.
The body was also formed as a result of Rodolfo Lozada's revelations of huge
kickbacks in the aborted $329 million ZTE-NBN deal whose cost would eventually
be shouldered by the taxpayers. - Job T. Realubit
