- Messages
- 182
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 26
Taxpayers to shoulder Marcos debt until 2025
More than 20 years have passed since the late president
Ferdinand Marcos was ousted, but governments after him
continue to honor questionable debts his regime incurred.
This was the lament of the militant think tank Ibon
Foundation, which said Marcos’ debts will continue to haunt
Filipino taxpayers for the next 19 years.
“As of 2005, the outstanding balance of of Marcos’s foreign
debts stood at around $926.72 million or more than P48
billion (at $1:P52). Following the country’s loan schedule,
taxpayers will pay for the foreign debts of Marcos until 2025,
39 years after he was ousted from office," it said.
Ibon said 33 percent of the country’s total borrowings during
Marcos’s term did not go to infrastructure development
projects or social programs but was pocketed by Marcos and
his cronies.
This amount translates to more than $8 billion, and the bulk
of these may have come from foreign loans, it added.
But the group stressed that the Marcos debts are clearly
illegitimate and onerous loans that benefited the private
interests of Marcos and his cronies.
Of these, it said the largest and most glaring is the notorious
Bataan Nuclear Plant with $1.8 billion dollars in interest
repayments alone since 1986, and $110.8 million more to go.
“The Filipino people continue to bear these debts at the cost
of being denied the right to access basic social services," it
said.
On the other hand, Ibon scored the Arroyo regime for claiming
to implement “fiscal reforms" to address its deficit and debt
woes, without resolving the debt problem.
It said the basic problem is that the national debt is bloated
with illegitimate loans such as the Marcos debts.
“Instead of implementing anti-people measures to deal with
its deficit problems such as new and higher taxes, the
government should instead reform its debt management
policies, starting with a review of the debts incurred by
Marcos to determine which of these are illegitimate and
therefore not the obligation of the Filipino people," it said.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/stor...ayers-to-shoulder-marcos-debt-until-2025-ibon
More than 20 years have passed since the late president
Ferdinand Marcos was ousted, but governments after him
continue to honor questionable debts his regime incurred.
This was the lament of the militant think tank Ibon
Foundation, which said Marcos’ debts will continue to haunt
Filipino taxpayers for the next 19 years.
“As of 2005, the outstanding balance of of Marcos’s foreign
debts stood at around $926.72 million or more than P48
billion (at $1:P52). Following the country’s loan schedule,
taxpayers will pay for the foreign debts of Marcos until 2025,
39 years after he was ousted from office," it said.
Ibon said 33 percent of the country’s total borrowings during
Marcos’s term did not go to infrastructure development
projects or social programs but was pocketed by Marcos and
his cronies.
This amount translates to more than $8 billion, and the bulk
of these may have come from foreign loans, it added.
But the group stressed that the Marcos debts are clearly
illegitimate and onerous loans that benefited the private
interests of Marcos and his cronies.
Of these, it said the largest and most glaring is the notorious
Bataan Nuclear Plant with $1.8 billion dollars in interest
repayments alone since 1986, and $110.8 million more to go.
“The Filipino people continue to bear these debts at the cost
of being denied the right to access basic social services," it
said.
On the other hand, Ibon scored the Arroyo regime for claiming
to implement “fiscal reforms" to address its deficit and debt
woes, without resolving the debt problem.
It said the basic problem is that the national debt is bloated
with illegitimate loans such as the Marcos debts.
“Instead of implementing anti-people measures to deal with
its deficit problems such as new and higher taxes, the
government should instead reform its debt management
policies, starting with a review of the debts incurred by
Marcos to determine which of these are illegitimate and
therefore not the obligation of the Filipino people," it said.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/stor...ayers-to-shoulder-marcos-debt-until-2025-ibon
