MANILA, Philippines — Senators are determined to hold executive sessions when the chamber tackles the P5.024-trillion budget proposal for 2022 to force government officials to provide details as to why the country incurred debts much more than actually needed.
In an interview over dzBB, Sen. Panfilo Lacson said in the past, government officials did not want to divulge the details of the country’s debt as they invoked confidentiality.
During the last budget deliberation in the plenary, Lacson recalled that he asked government officials why the country borrowed P1.3 trillion, when the projected budget deficit was at P600 plus billion.
The senator was told by the government officials that details about the debts cannot be divulged because they were confidential. “But this time around, I talked to my colleagues in the Senate, that we will actually call an executive session so that they can explain to us why we have to borrow so much for our actual needs,” Lacson noted.
He said the P512 billion budget for COVID-19 response will be one of the aspects the Senate intends to scrutinize, as senators discuss the proposed more than P5 trillion budget for 2022.
“That (P512 billion) must be reviewed during the budget deliberation. We’ve been receiving many reports that there are problems in the distribution of ayuda. Many did not receive it. Now they (government officials) have to account to the people for what Congress has allocated in the GAA (General Appropriations Act) and the Bayanihan appropriation funds. They also have to account for our debts,” Lacson pointed out.
He said since the government is already in possession of the borrowed money, government officials need to account for and explain why other sectors, especially health workers, have not been able to receive the amount due them. “The amount of our debt of P11.1006 trillion and the projection is it will reach P13 trillion before the present administration steps down next year,” he said.
Lacson pointed out that the country’s debt during the time of the late former president Benigno Aquino was at P5.9 trillion, which doubled in the past five years under President Duterte’s administration to P11.1006 trillion. He admitted that the COVID-19 pandemic was one of the factors in the government’s ballooning debts.
“Data showed that the first five months – January to May 2021 – we need P624 billion compared to the same period last year which was P512.9 billion. It means it increased by 22 percent… Let’s look at the whole debt servicing, meaning amortization and interest payment,” he noted.
Lacson said that the country’s debt servicing has hit P1.793 billion, with 70 percent amortization and 30 percent interest payment.
“With 2022 NEP (National Expenditure Program) at P5 trillion, with almost P2 trillion for debt servicing alone in 2022, that’s an automatic appropriation, only P3 trillion will be left in the budget. We have to set aside 60 percent for salaries of government officials plus the IRA (internal revenue allotment) share which is about P1 trillion, only P2 trillion will be left for government programs,” he said.
IRA is a local government unit’s share of revenues from the Philippine national government.
He noted that the executive department is mandated under the Constitution to submit to Congress the budget proposal or NEP for 2022 on or before Aug. 26.