THE Davao City Chapter of the Freedom from Debt Coalition, in cooperation with the Social Work Department of Ateneo De Davao University (Addu), will hold a public forum on "The Philippine Debt Situation and the Economic Crisis" at Bellarmine Hall of the Ateneo de Davao, 1-5 p.m. Monday.

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Erwin Sarmiento, the chapter secretary-general, said they are expecting representatives from the academe, labor, urban poor, peasant and other sectors.

The forum is aimed to instill public awareness on the burgeoning Philippine debt and how it could be adversely affected by a looming global economic crisis.

Sarmiento said the proposed 2009 budget is not attuned to a situation where the current US financial disaster explodes worldwide.

"Malacañang would ultimately need more funds to shore up a crisis-ridden economy, much more to alleviate the plight of a crisis-stricken population. Since we are dependent on foreign credit, the government has no other recourse but to borrow more, at a time when foreign interest rates are expected to jack up. And that's on top of the P437.086 billion we are set to borrow as stated in the proposed national budget," he said.

Sarmiento further explained: "at the time of crisis, we cannot afford to spend 48% of the P1.415-trillion 2009 budget or P681.516 billion for debt servicing."

He said the FDC is not proposing budget reduction but "to reduce the wasteful allocations and direct it to where funds are most needed: social and economic services."

FDC successfully lobbied for the reduction of debt payment by P25.9 billion in the 2008 budget.

The coalition has made Congress approve the reduction of P5 billion for suspended interest payments for fraudulent, wasteful and useless loan agreements; P5 billion worth of premature payments for proposed loans and P15.9 billion in savings for a more realistic forecasting of the foreign exchange rate.

These, however, were vetoed by President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

In addition, FDC Davao Debt Campaign Committee chair Mae Dela Rosa explained, "In a time of a global financial crisis and domestic economic crisis, a moratorium for external debt servicing should be imposed."

She hopes for a repeat of FDC's success in the lobbying for the re-channeling of debt payments to social services.

For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Manila.

(November 10, 2008 issue)
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