Hontiveros urges Marcos not to follow Duterte admin's 'overborrowing'

As the Senate continues its debates on the P5.268-trillion proposed national budget for 2023, Senator Risa Hontiveros urged President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. not to follow the previous administration's debt spree.

“'Wag sanang tularan ni President Marcos si ex-President Duterte na nagpumilit umutang sa China kahit hindi naman kailangan. Kaya, President Marcos, hinay-hinay lang sa pera ng bayan,” Hontiveros said in a statement Friday.

(President Marcos should not follow President Duterte who pursued loans from China even if the country doesn't need it. President Marcos, be careful with the public's money.)

She mentioned two major projects which are supposedly funded by China, namely the P18-billion Kaliwa Dam and the P171-billion South Luzon Long Haul Rail Project from Calamba to Matnog in Sorsogon.

The deputy minority leader said these projects are now in limbo as their Chinese investors have yet to make good on their commitment to lend money to the Philippine government.

"The delay is actually a blessing in disguise," she said.

“Dapat maiwasan ni President Marcos ang mga dambuhalang utang na naka-amba dahil kay President Duterte, lalo na kung hindi naman pala utang ang kailangan ng mga proyektong ito. We should do everything so government avoids taking on the heavy loan burden itself,” Hontiveros added.

The senator said there had been a shortlist of private sector proponents that were pre-qualified to bid for the capital investments of these two major projects.

Hontiveros then suggested the National Economic Development Authority to conduct a review on the economic viability of the Mindanao Rail as well as the Subic-Clark Rail projects.

“We have reason to believe that economic evaluation of these projects was not thorough at all. These two projects were also originally offered for China to finance, but the need for them at this time should really be re-examined. Baka wala pong sumakay at maging white elephant projects lang ang mga ito,” Hontiveros said.

“Duterte’s pivot to loan financing to the exclusion of PPP for his flagship projects was an unsustainable tactic, and reliance on China for loans even more so,” she added.

The Bureau of Treasury recently reported that the Philippine government's outstanding debt stood at record-high P13.517 trillion as of end-September 2022.

Hontiveros mentioned that the Philippine government has also exceeded the borrowing limit that it set for 2022.

Citing the commitments of the secretaries of NEDA and the Department of Finance, Hontiveros said the economic managers had vowed to pursue non-debt financing options.

The lawmaker was likewise assured by the secretaries that it is possible for the government to partially contribute to the finance of flagship projects and even to take on some of the financial risks.

This will make the project attractive to the creditors of the PPP proponents and it will help the country avoid taking on unnecessarily massive debts, she said.

“We need to make sure that the projects get underway soon, however. Kailangan lang ituwid ang baluktot na naging kalakaran. Huwag nating hayaang nakatengga ang mga riles na ito. These railways can be an absolute gamechanger for Filipinos. It is high time we make these projects happen for our country," she said.

GMA News Online sought the comments of Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno and NEDA director general Arsenio Balisacan on the matter but they have yet to reply as of posting time.

During the opening of the Senate plenary debates on the 2023 national budget, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III asked why the programmed borrowing is more than the P1.6-trillion budget deficit.

Senator Sonny Angara, who defends the budget measure, said the reason is to have a buffer and to take advantage of some financing arrangements so the margins are not too thin.

The excess money from the borrowings will be deposited to the Central Bank where it can earn interest, he added.

Further, Angara said the over P13 trillion debt of the country will "remain roughly the same for the foreseeable future."

"By the end of Marcos' administration, that debt stock will go down because the goal under the Medium-Term Fiscal Framework is to reduce the deficit, the debt," he said.—AOL, GMA Integrated News