Drilon: Borrowing money is govt’s best option in funding COVID-19 measures

The government’s best option in funding measures to address the prevailing COVID-19 pandemic and its effects is borrowing money, Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon said Thursday.

Drilon issued the statement just a day after data from the Bureau of Treasury revealed that the government’s outstanding debt already swelled to a record P9.054 trillion as of end-June amid the nation’s battle against COVID-19 threat.

“The government needs to spend within the remaining months of the year to jumpstart the economy. Hence, our best option is to borrow more money in order that the government can continue to provide emergency cash subsidies to vulnerable households and distressed businesses,” Drilon said in a statement.

Drilon argued that imposing new taxes in the midst of a pandemic would just cause additional hardship on the public, while cutting government spending is detrimental to the people and the economy.

“We are in a crisis. Borrowing is not a crime as long as we spend the money for the people – to feed the 5.2 million Filipino households who are hungry, provide jobs to 5 million Filipinos and give assistance to distressed businesses,” Drilon added.

Drilon also cited that government spending only accounts for about 20% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP)—an amount which ranks the country fourth among Southeast Asian countries with the smallest COVID-19 response packages in terms of share of GDP.

“We need more funds to buy more personal protective equipment (PPE), laboratory equipment and medical supplies, increase our COVID-19 bed capacities and provide additional benefits to our healthcare frontliners. Clearly, we need to spend more,” he said.

“The government should not worry about breaching the 40 percent debt-to-GDP ratio, which is ideal for developing countries like ours. We would go back to where we were before if we do not act swiftly.  Today isn’t the time for austerity,” Drilon added.

Senate Finance Committee chairperson Sonny Angara earlier said the Bayanihan 2 law—the mini stimulus that Congress is expected to pass to fund government measures in fighting COVID-19—cannot go beyond P200 billion because that would already be unfundable. — Llanesca T. Panti/RSJ, GMA News