Solons, GMA urged, 'Craft a budget for development, not political survival'
Strong calls for Malacañang and members of the Senate have been made with similar appeals for a budget that is for development and not political survival.
With the sentiments gathering support here, the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) linked up anew with various groups in delivering the message -- "Stand firm on your pronouncement to slash the President's pork funds our of the P1.053 trillion 2006 National Budget in favor of additional resources for basic social services and the Agriculture and Fisheries Modernization Program (AFMP).
FDC's recent campaign is made with Social Watch Philippines, Global Call to Action Against Poverty (GCAP), Civil Society Network for Education Reforms (E-NET) and Kilusang Manggingisda.
In a news release, FDC said the proposed 2006 National Government budget reeks of dubious allocations meant only to fortify GMA's political survival.
"The Kalayaan Barangay Program Fund (Php 3 billion) and the Kilos Asenso Program Fund (Php 5 billion) purportedly allotted for grassroots development are nothing but pork barrel funds for local government units to reward their loyalty and guarantee their support for the smooth operation of GMA's charter change initiative," it went. "The Senate's effort to allocate more funds to health, education and AFMP is urgent in these times. The budget given to these significant sectors has been grossly insufficient and dangerously decreasing under the Arroyo regime. Within the last year, the education sector's share in the fiscal pie went down by 27.9 percent. A large part of the education budget went to financing personnel services; funding for buildings, books, and other teaching tools was a measly 4.1 percent. The Philippines only spends 2.4 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on education while comparable countries within the medium human development bracket spend an average of 4.41 percent according to the United Nations Human Development Report. "
And the health sector is in even direr straits, the group lamented while deriding the Arroyo regime for allegedly spending "barely 0.27 percent of GDP on health."
"In fact, public spending on health is way below the average public spending of Nigeria and Ethiopia, which amounts to about 2 percent. Public health services remain inadequately funded. This kind of negligible commitment from our government produces shocking outcomes. Communicable diseases such as tuberculosis and malaria continue to dominate mortality and morbidity figures. An estimated 70 Filipinos die daily of tuberculosis -- a highly preventable and treatable disease. This clearly shows the direct link between poverty and death: poverty kills," the news release further went.
The agriculture sector, the backbone of Philippine economy, is a picture of abject poverty. Four out of 5 poor Filipino families are in the rural areas. T he share of agriculture in the total government expenditures has not even gone beyond 5 percent. Largely due to inadequate government support, the agricultural sector has grown only an average of 2 percent annually--a growth rate that, by government's own admission, cannot provide sufficient employment and incomes to farmers and fisherfolk.
While the Senate's initiative on the 2006 national budget is a step in the right direction, these however are not enough. We are asking the Senate to direct its lenses at other dubious funds within the trillion peso national budget which we believe will be used to advance certain political ends rather than development requirements to alleviate the lives of our people.
In particular, Php 1.25 billion is allocated to the Confidential and Intelligence Expenses (CAIE) wherein Php 650 million is under the full discretion of the Office of the President. Given the growing number of warrantless arrests, abductions and extra-judicial killings of critics of the Arroyo regime, a 2006 National Budget which includes the CAIE may mean greater political repression and the undermining of our basic political freedoms.
Furthermore, the Senate must also train its guns to our growing debt problem which is clearly the single biggest obstacle in coming up with a national budget that is geared towards genuine development and poverty reduction. This year, interest payments alone account for 32 percent of the entire budget package. Together with our principal amortization which amounts to P381.7 billion, our total debt service bill is P723 billion. This is already equivalent to 80 percent of the target tax revenues for the entire year, including projected collections from RVAT.
"We can only do so much with piecemeal re-allocation of certain budget allotments, but without clearly confronting the debt problem, succeeding national budgets like in the past will simply become creditor budgets that are meant to appease international lending institutions and which in the end subject our people to deeper poverty and misery," FDC concluded. "It is in this light that we challenge the Senate to seriously confront the debt problem by prioritizing the approval of Senate Joint Resolution No. 1 calling for a Comprehensive Audit of Public Sector Debt and Contingent Liabilities aimed to review, investigate and recommend policies and strategies to reduce the debt burden and ensure sound debt and fiscal management."