Wanted - An opposition with a platform against illegitimate debt and creditors’ conditionalities

By Ana Maria R. Nemenzo

President, Freedom from Debt Coalition

 

This is in response to Alejandro Lichauco's column on the Daily Tribune last February 8, 2007 titled "On repudiation of foreign debt and IMF conditionalities" challenging the mainstream opposition, primarily Mr. Joseph Estrada, to build a platform faithful to repudiating foreign debt and IMF policies.

 

The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) commends this very noble proposal to put forward the serious debt problem as a new dynamic discourse in an otherwise tedious electoral exercise. What is presented to us in this election is an array of candidates who are fixated on survey ratings and dim-witted political ads rather than substantive platforms to address legitimate sectoral issues.

 

Lest we forget or before we succumb to the government's fantastic economic fairytale story, we are still trapped in this deadly spiral of debt payments. As of September 2005, the country's total debt amounted to a staggering P6.5 trillion. More disturbing is the fact that under Mrs. Arroyo's six-year rule, her government has chosen to take a very aggressive borrowings and repayment policy. To date, Mrs. Arroyo has already borrowed a total of P2.77 trillion, which is more than the combined debt of Aquino, Ramos and Estrada which only totals P1.51 trillion—making her the country's biggest and most aggressive borrower in our entire fiscal history.

 

Without a shred of doubt, the country's debt problem is the single greatest obstacle why genuine development is far from being realized. Proof of this, two years ago, our government paid P678.95 billion in interest and principal payments representing 85 percent of the country's total revenue collection and 52.7 percent of the total government budget for the same year at the expense of much needed social services like education, health and housing.

 

Clearly, the proposition to dare the opposition to develop a platform with the repudiation of debt and IMF conditionalites as its core program is not only politically correct but also morally necessary.

 

However, we would like to issue a double dare. The framework of debt repudiation must go hand in hand with the popularization of the concept of illegitimate debts— debts that were incurred by dictators to finance ill-conceived development projects or debts that were entered under fraudulent contracts and corrupt practices. Sad to say, a large part of our debt is categorized as such. Generations of Filipinos have been paying such debts for the longest time even if these said debts did not benefit the majority. The truth of the matter is our country's debt has actually been paid many times over in terms of the financial, economic, social, environmental even human costs we've endured because of these debts.

 

For these reasons, we must use this coming May elections as an arena to once again elevate our country's debt problem and its corresponding solutions to the level of national discourse. No candidate opposition or administration seeking government office this coming election must be excused from having a clear position regarding this significant issue.

 

Then again, the challenge falls harder on the ranks of the opposition rather than on the current administration, which already distinguished itself as the biggest borrower in Philippine history. If the mainstream opposition wants to be treated as a serious political force of change by the people then they must build a platform committed to the concept of illegitimate debt and its unconditional repudiation. Otherwise, they will just end up as the usual paper opposition composed of recycled politicians using recycled platforms.