Arroyo urged not to veto debt service cuts
Anti-debt and environmental activists on Wednesday stage a protest action in Quezon City to voice their opposition to the possible presidential veto of the P25.9 billion debt service cuts in the 2008 budget.
Members of the EcoWaste Coalition and the Freedom from Debt Coalition gathered outside the Philippine Heart Center to call on President Arroyo to desist from vetoing cuts in debt servicing in this year's budget.
The “green warriors" and the “debt warriors" put up hospital beds, complete with volunteer patients outside the hospital, and staged a mock blood transfusion to dramatize what they said are life-sustaining benefits of cutting onerous debt payments.
“An executive veto of the budget cuts in debt servicing or the reported ‘calibrated spending,’ which is a de facto veto, will have insidious effects in the efficient and effective delivery of health care and other essential social services," said actor Roy Alvarez, chairman of the EcoWaste Coalition.
He called on the government to put a stop to all debt payments "that have not benefited the people, the economy and the environment."
The activists found an ally in Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez Jr. who said “the debt service cuts in the 2008 budget can change and uplift the lives of millions with the realignment of funds for basic social services."
"I join the civil society in urging the executive branch to heed the people’s clamor for relief and release from indebtedness, particularly from tainted and illegitimate debts," the bishop said.
He said the government has to make "courageous decisions to correct the gross injustice, including the need to repudiate some of these debts."
The EcoWaste Coalition and FDC opposed the continued payment for 26 defunct medical waste incinerators in government-run hospitals that the country imported under a development package signed in 1997 by the Philippine and Austrian governments.
The waste burners were retired in 2003 to conform to the phaseout of medical waste incinerators under the Clean Air Act.
The Philippines, which started to pay for the loan’s principal in 2002, has to pay $2 million annually until 2014 unless the debt is canceled or repudiated.
The groups lamented that the controversial loan package not only resulted in a $2 million per year debt burden, but also endangered the health of Filipinos with the release of toxic pollutants such as dioxins.
The Bank Austria and the Department of Finance signed in 1997 a development assistance package titled “The Austrian Project for the Establishment of Waste Disposal Facilities and Upgrading of the Medical Equipment Standard in DOH Hospitals."
The package was originally intended to provide development assistance to Philippine hospitals in the area of medical waste management.
In 1997-1998, the incinerators with capacities of 300-500 kg of waste/day, a major component of the project, were set up in various DOH-run hospitals.
The total cost of the project amounted to ATS199,860,000 or P503,647,200 in 1996.
The Waste Disposal Component of the project cost ATS95,904,076 or P241,678,000 in 1996.
The incinerators, which amounted to P133,208,662 in 1996, were delivered and installed in 26 DOH-controlled hospitals in 1997-1998.
The loan, with an interest rate of 4 percent per year, is to be paid off by the government until 2014 in 24 equal semi-annual payments. The payments on the loan’s principal have started in 2002.
A study undertaken by Greenpeace-Southeast Asia revealed that the incinerators exported by Austria to the Philippines were of low quality that it would never have been allowed to operate in Austria.
The incinerators, however, were granted an exemption from the Environmental Impact Assessment process by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
A subsequent assessment of the incinerators’ emissions, jointly conducted by the Department of Health and the World Health Organization, revealed extremely high emissions.
In the joint DOH-WHO emission test conducted on one of the incinerators, the dioxin emission was a 870 times the limit set by the Clean Air Act.
A follow-up investigation conducted by the Health Care Without Harm and the EcoWaste Coalition showed that the incinerators have all been decommissioned in 2003 in compliance with the scheduled phaseout under the Clean Air Act of 1999. - GMANews.TV
Members of the EcoWaste Coalition and the Freedom from Debt Coalition gathered outside the Philippine Heart Center to call on President Arroyo to desist from vetoing cuts in debt servicing in this year's budget.
The “green warriors" and the “debt warriors" put up hospital beds, complete with volunteer patients outside the hospital, and staged a mock blood transfusion to dramatize what they said are life-sustaining benefits of cutting onerous debt payments.
“An executive veto of the budget cuts in debt servicing or the reported ‘calibrated spending,’ which is a de facto veto, will have insidious effects in the efficient and effective delivery of health care and other essential social services," said actor Roy Alvarez, chairman of the EcoWaste Coalition.
He called on the government to put a stop to all debt payments "that have not benefited the people, the economy and the environment."
The activists found an ally in Caloocan Bishop Deogracias Iñiguez Jr. who said “the debt service cuts in the 2008 budget can change and uplift the lives of millions with the realignment of funds for basic social services."
"I join the civil society in urging the executive branch to heed the people’s clamor for relief and release from indebtedness, particularly from tainted and illegitimate debts," the bishop said.
He said the government has to make "courageous decisions to correct the gross injustice, including the need to repudiate some of these debts."
The EcoWaste Coalition and FDC opposed the continued payment for 26 defunct medical waste incinerators in government-run hospitals that the country imported under a development package signed in 1997 by the Philippine and Austrian governments.
The waste burners were retired in 2003 to conform to the phaseout of medical waste incinerators under the Clean Air Act.
The Philippines, which started to pay for the loan’s principal in 2002, has to pay $2 million annually until 2014 unless the debt is canceled or repudiated.
The groups lamented that the controversial loan package not only resulted in a $2 million per year debt burden, but also endangered the health of Filipinos with the release of toxic pollutants such as dioxins.
The Bank Austria and the Department of Finance signed in 1997 a development assistance package titled “The Austrian Project for the Establishment of Waste Disposal Facilities and Upgrading of the Medical Equipment Standard in DOH Hospitals."
The package was originally intended to provide development assistance to Philippine hospitals in the area of medical waste management.
In 1997-1998, the incinerators with capacities of 300-500 kg of waste/day, a major component of the project, were set up in various DOH-run hospitals.
The total cost of the project amounted to ATS199,860,000 or P503,647,200 in 1996.
The Waste Disposal Component of the project cost ATS95,904,076 or P241,678,000 in 1996.
The incinerators, which amounted to P133,208,662 in 1996, were delivered and installed in 26 DOH-controlled hospitals in 1997-1998.
The loan, with an interest rate of 4 percent per year, is to be paid off by the government until 2014 in 24 equal semi-annual payments. The payments on the loan’s principal have started in 2002.
A study undertaken by Greenpeace-Southeast Asia revealed that the incinerators exported by Austria to the Philippines were of low quality that it would never have been allowed to operate in Austria.
The incinerators, however, were granted an exemption from the Environmental Impact Assessment process by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
A subsequent assessment of the incinerators’ emissions, jointly conducted by the Department of Health and the World Health Organization, revealed extremely high emissions.
In the joint DOH-WHO emission test conducted on one of the incinerators, the dioxin emission was a 870 times the limit set by the Clean Air Act.
A follow-up investigation conducted by the Health Care Without Harm and the EcoWaste Coalition showed that the incinerators have all been decommissioned in 2003 in compliance with the scheduled phaseout under the Clean Air Act of 1999. - GMANews.TV
advertisement
advertisement
advertisement
