‘We should draw the line when their overweening arrogance could lead to the
nation’s ruin.’
True to form, the allies of Gloria Ar-royo in
the House have dismissed a call from the minority to slash the proposed P1.4
trillion budget by P200 billion. The majority said the proponents of a leaner
budget are daydreaming because they do not have the numbers.
While we were not be surprised by such arrogance, we had been
hoping the proposed budget cut would at least trigger a debate on what the
appropriate government response should be to the threatening prolonged
depression in the West in the wake of the US financial crisis.
Last August, when Malacañang unveiled the proposed budget for
2009, the declared thrust of government spending was to provide safety nets for
the poorest sectors which were reeling from high food and oil prices, to improve
agriculture and to push infrastructure building in order to sustain the growth
momentum.
The worries at that time were spiraling food and oil prices
which had already markedly slowed down consumer demand during the first
semester. To take up the slack, the game plan was to increase public works
spending even to the point of pushing farther into the future the balancing of
the budget which was originally targeted by Arroyo to be in place by 2008.
Economic managers were confident financing the deficit would
not be a problem. The government could always tap the foreign credit market.
That sanguine assumption, unfortunately, has been overtaken by events, with
global lenders now desperately trying to preserve their liquidity. With an
expected shrinking of the export market and a drying up of foreign loans and
investments, the assumptions in the current budget proposal obviously no longer
hold.
Whether a smaller budget is indeed the prudent thing to do as
claimed by the opposition is an open question. A good case could be made for
keeping the proposed budget intact, especially on the need for pump-priming.
What is important is that economic policy directions be subjected to a second
look. And this can only come about through honest and frank debate on the
proposed budget.
Gloria’s allies would have none of this. They will pass the
P1.4 billion budget proposal because they have the numbers. And that’s it.
Were the price of the hubris of Gloria and her allies limited to their own
downfall, we wouldn’t mind. We would even welcome it. But we should draw the
line when their overweening arrogance could lead to the nation’s ruin.
