Budget talk
This may seem rather late, as the budget proposal was given to Congress months ago (though it hasn’t been passed since our legislators seem to be more focused on hastily revising our Constitution). As a prelude to an entry about UP’s third consecutive budget cut, here’s a broad take on how our beloved president plans to use taxpayers’ money for 2006.
So this means, out of every ten pesos we pay for taxes, almost seven pesos will go to debt servicing and only less than two pesos will be spent on basic social services. That’s still excluding all the losses from corruption.
Now, many complain about our legislators’ pork barrels amounting to millions for each one of them. But Arroyo has an even bigger share. 25 BILLION PESOS. And it can all be spent on her discretion. Ang sarap maging presidente!
So, how much will actually be spent on things that matter to ordinary Filipinos?
So what’s my point? The nerve of our government to raise taxes! The percent share of the education budget and budget for other social services continue to get smaller compared to rising debt servicing payments and military modernization programs. Well, it has been a rhetoric by those who are fighting for greater state subsidies for social services like education and health care: There is money. Our President just has some skewed priorities, so much of it will be spent on things other than social services.
This is how GMA really cares.
Bikoy, I really wish that you’ll try to learn the issues that you are commenting about BEFORE you make a fool of yourself by ranting aimlessly on it. This tirade on the country’s budget displays how much (or how little, for that matter) you know about how the system works. Your presentation of facts and numbers is contrapuntal to the point that you are making.
So I’m guessing you’re one of them people shouting “Itigil ang pagbabayad sa utang!!! Pahirap sa bayan!!!” and your reasoning is that if you divert that amount of money (and it is big) into social services, you’ll have more to fund hospitals, schools and stuff. But as the label “debt servicing” implies, this cannot be so.
To begin with, that money that we are using to pay up our debt is not our money! (Kaya nga utang, e!) Sa kanila yan, sa mga bangko sa ibang lupalop at sa mga bansa na kinauutangan natin sa hangad na mapaganda ang infrastructure ng Pilipinas. Witholding payment to debt is not our prerogative to decide, for one, because we ought to pay them back, and two, since if we don’t, then we can’t borrow money anymore. Parang kung ikaw ay inutangan ng isang libo at hindi ka babayaran. Tanga ka kung magpapautang ka ulit sa umutang na iyon, unless of course, kung bayaran ka niya.
So what about that miniscule 195 billion left to fund everything else? Sad to say, but our fiscal position allows for only that much to fund for everything. So why not divert some of that 722 big ones to social services? As I have said, that is not our money. 195B is all we have.
So on to your point. What right does the government have to raise taxes? Ikaw na rin ang nagsabi, 195B is not enough (I think you’re implying this). The figures that you have presented affirm the government’s move to raise taxes. Raising taxes increases government revenue, therefore increasing its capability to fund debt payment and social services.
That mere two per cent tax increase had two of three credit ratings companies upgrade the credit rating of the Philippines, thereby cutting interest rates to payments to sovereign debt. What that means is a reduction in what the country needs to pay in order to pay back debt. Figures (since you love them numbers) have the reduction of debt to some billion dollars).
Haaay ang haba. I hope I made my point clear. You’re bound to get it since you’re from UP after all, the 66th best university in Asia (is that accurate?). UP kong mahal!!!
I never said we should default on our debt. There are other more imaginative options than to have to pay that much a year.
Also, one of my points, Gloria has the nerve to allot 13 billion for something as dubious as “Healing the Wounds of EDSA” and yet all she allots for health care is a mere 11 billion. Gloria’s pork barrel sums up to 25 billion.
Point is, there is enough money for education, for health care. But that’s not Gloria’s priority.
Raising taxes increases government revenue, therefore increasing its capability to fund debt payment and social services.
How come gorvernment expenditure per person actually decreased?
una, wag bayaran ang foreign debt.. grabe loan shark ang IMF/WF.. pangalawa, gawing centralized ang production at distrubution.. nationalist industrialization..
tama ka sa punto mo bikoy.. ang laki ng badyet ni gloring sa debt at military/intelligence samantalang ginigipit ang education at social services..
I was about to lash out at the author of the post but the first poster took the words from my mouth.
Anyway, I don’t know where you got the numbers but it is always an SOP to state sources, especially of such statistics. Second, from what I read here you don’t seem to know much about the “Healing” project. If so, then it’s unfair of you to tag it as dubious. I Googled it and this is what I found: here. Apparently, a portion of that 13 billion is for some sort of welfare, after all. If you did know more about that program, you failed to fully explain it here to justify. Third, the national budget isn’t just sliced into debt payments, the presidential fund, social services, and the military. There’s so much more. Contrary to what you said, there is _not_ enough money for education and health care, or for anything else for that matter, because, as you made clear, too much goes to debt payments. There could be enough if you take all the money away from everything else and drop it into the health care and education piggy bank. You refute that GMA could very well allocate less on that and siphon more to others but I am quite sure GMA made it clear when she ran for the presidency that alleviating our fiscal crisis is one of her major projects; she is simply acting on that. But you cannot deny the good it did us. Less debts equate to more money to spend on us, the people. Just because your priorities do not coincide with the president’s does not mean they are skewed. Besides, a president doesn’t just decide on that on her own. A group of people who are veterans and would most probably know a hell more than you and me about how to run a country help a president set the budget.
(On an extremely unrelated note, your comment textbox is too small. Increasing the textbox’s height would be convinient, especially when making long comments.)
And to you, Makoy, I do not know how you could possibly contemplate not paying the debts. It doesn’t work that way in the real world where me, Bikoy, the president, the Filipinos, and unfortunately, you, are in.
yes, ive read through that pdf file. the point is, kung pang-social services ang pera sa “Healing the wounds of EDSA”, bakit sa pork barrel ng presidente pa kailangan ilagay, na susceptable to corruption? Bakit hindi direkta sa DepEd or sa DOH?
Another point, is that our debt can be negotiated to suit us better. Brazil did that. Venezuela did that. Why can’t we?
I believe GMA is aiming for the quickest route to
stabilize the economy and promote investments. It still boils down to _her_ priorities. To her economic and business-oriented view, this arrangement is what suits us.
And about the corruption, it doesn’t matter where the funds are routed, corruption is there. I guess it is natural to hate the one that steals the most through corruption but the fact is, corruption is everywhere. Assume GMA stole some of her 25 billion, how much would that be compared to the money lost on _all_ corruption cases?
And there’s also the public image factor. If she does a good job on a project she started, she looks good. You forget Victor, it’s politics. :-p
Debt negotiation? We won’t get a positive credit rating EVER AGAIN, and that means no long term projects in this country will be financed if we pull off a waiving of our debt. We need to pay for our debt to borrow more money.
I believe that debt servicing is v. important, if only there was an ideal trickledown of the debt we’re incurring. There are anomalous budgeting and auditing going on in the government but I just don’t like the idea of someone calling the IMF/WB as “loan sharks.” Hmph.
kaya nga NEGOTIATION. you bargain for compromises. Brazil did that with debt swapping, the US forgiving some of Brazil’s foreign debt in exchange for protecting the Amazon. why haven’t we explored those sort of options?
also, how much is the long term liabilities that will result from the neglect of education and other social services? it will breed incompetent, unhealthy and poor citizens that will demand more social services in the future! that will push us to borrow more and more. its cyclical. when will it end?
i agree to that.
It’s pure stupidity treating GMA as the country’s president. and GMA really cares for her own interest. she has a heart for herself alone. not for us.
Victor, do you know for a fact that the government has not explored on possible negotiation deals? Perhaps there weren’t any deals that would be advantageous? Or maybe they did not try to strike a deal at all, I don’t know. But unless you know for certain, it’s simply unfair to bash.
I do agree about the effects of undercutting education funding, though. But it is nice to know that even this situation, the Philippines has one of the highest literacy rate at 92%.
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Lance, who do you feel is worthy if being your president then?
And what’s your creative debt negotiation strategy? You make it sound so easy na parang nakikipagtawaran ka lang sa tiangge.