The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) today hit the trade-off between Malacañang and lawmakers following the scrapping of the P4.7 billion School Feeding Program from the proposed P1.126 billion national government budget in exchange for the retention of the P400 million intelligence fund under the Office of the President.
"While we laud the scrapping of that dubious fund, we are disappointment over how the issue was settled," said FDC president Ana Maria R. Nemenzo.
"Time and time again, we have pointed out the danger of an incumbent occupant in Malacañang wielding too much discretionary power over intelligence funds that are being used to harass, intimidate and even kill legal political dissenters," she said.
She added that under Mrs. Gloria Arroyo's six-year 'rule,' several hundred activists, civilians and media people were tortured and killed in a systematic effort to squash the peoples' right to political remonstration.
"With the May 2007 elections around the corner, the President's intelligence funds will almost certainly be used to crush the political opposition as well as party-list groups, which are being maliciously branded as 'leftists' or 'communists,'" said Nemenzo.
The proposal to delete the School Feeding Program was part of the alternative budget proposed by various civil society groups, including FDC.
They argued that the lessons from the Ginintuang Masaganang Ani rice program in 2004 should not escape every Filipino at this point, referring to the P728 million fertilizer scam wherein the Department of Agriculture allegedly dispersed funds even for non-agricultural areas.
The country's debt watchdog, however, expressed support to the reallocation of the scrapped fund to the building of additional classrooms and to the funding of a sensible Nutrition Feeding Program incorporated in the Department of Education (DepEd) Budget.
In addition, FDC likewise commended the Senate panel for scrapping the country's counterpart to the controversial North Rail Project in the 2007 budget pending a full review of its alleged anomalies.
"This proposition will surely contribute in averting the implementation of anomalous contracts that could have a big impact in our country's future indebtedness. We hope this initiative by the Senate will be reflected in the final version of the 2007 budget," said Nemenzo.
In an unprecedented move, FDC along with several minority congressmen, party-list groups, Social Watch Philippines, Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) Philippines, E-Net and Youth Against Debt (YAD) crafted an alternative budget for 2007 that will ensure the financing of significant social services and the realization of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)-related programs.
Nemenzo said that although there are gains from this engagement, a lot has still to be done to achieve a genuine people's budget.
This early, Nemenzo revealed, they are preparing their budget engagement for 2008 national government budget.
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