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Sunday, May 09, 2004
Hunter of Marcos billions to resign from anti-corruption body
* Yorac complains government was not paying her enough to cover medical expenses despite her stressful job
MANILA -- The head of a commission assigned to track down the stolen billions of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos said Saturday she was quitting the role due to poor health and poor pay.
Haydee Yorac said she was standing down as head of the Presidential Commission on Good Government at "the soonest possible time," saying the government was not paying her enough to cover medical expenses despite the stress of her job.
She also said she would step down regardless of whether President Arroyo, who appointed her to the job in 2001, won a new term in the elections.
Stroke
Yorac, a lawyer, has been hailed for reinvigorating the government agency created in 1986 to recover the billions allegedly stolen from state coffers during Marcos' 20-year rule.
She suffered a stroke last year and only returned to work after a lengthy stay in hospital and extended therapy.
During her term, the commission won a landmark case recovering $680 million from Swiss bank accounts held by Marcos.
On Friday, the government also won a court case wresting control of some 20 percent of food-and-beverage giant San Miguel Corp. from Marcos crony Eduardo Cojuangco.
Marcos was toppled in a popular revolt in 1986 and died in U.S. exile in 1989.
It was during the Marcos regime, detractors say, that the country had succumbed to outstanding external debts, which have continued to accumulate in succeeding administrations.
Billions in debts
Meanwhile, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) has bared that as of December 2003, the country's external debts stood at $57.4 billion.
BSP Gov. Rafael Buena-ventura said this figure is up by $1.2 billion or 2.2 percent from the end-September 2003 level of $56.2 billion.
On an annual basis, external debt grew by $3.8 billion or seven percent from $53.6 billion at end-2002.
"Accounts with medium to long-term maturities continued to represent the bulk of outstanding debt at 89.2 percent," the governor said.
The country's external debt remained largely denominated in two currencies: the U.S. Dollar (53.9 percent) and the Japanese Yen (27.7 percent). The rest were in 16 other currencies with the Euro accounting for 4.7 percent and Special Drawing Rights, 3.9 percent.
During the fourth quarter, the increase in external debt was accounted for mainly by net foreign exchange inflows from loan transactions of US$0.93 billion as well as upward revaluation adjustments of $0.94 billion.
The weakening of the US Dollar against other major currencies, particularly the Japanese Yen during the quarter raised the US dollar equivalent of third-currency denominated accounts.
The impact on debt service burden, however, is not immediate as repayments of most of these accounts are well spread out into the future.
(May 9, 2004 issue)
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