Title: The Philippine Debt Audit Campaign
1The Philippine Debt Audit Campaign
- A Renewed Call to the 14th Congress and the
Filipino People -
- Presented by
- Rebecca L. Malay
- Treasurer, Freedom from Debt Coalition
2The Debt Audit
- Congressional Debt Audit
- Where we are
- Moving forward issues considerations
- Citizens Debt Audit Commission
- Where we are
- General Concept
- Refinement in structure
- Proposed members of the Commission
3Is the debt problem over?
4Record Breaker
5Is the debt problem over?
National Government Debt as of end-May 2007 (in
trillion pesos)
NG Outstanding Debt NG Outstanding Debt 3.819
Domestic Debt (by instruments) 2.148
Treasury Bills 0.588
Treasury Bonds/Notes 1.538
Loans 0.022
Others 0
Foreign Debt (by creditors, using 1P46.35) 1.671
Multilateral 0.251
Bilateral 0.378
Commercial 0.035
Foreign Denominated Securities 1.006
NG Contingent Liabilities NG Contingent Liabilities 0.530
Domestic Debt 0.072
Foreign Debt 0.458
Source Bureau of Treasury, SDAD Note Breakdown
of totals may not sum up due to rounding of digits
6Who pays?
7Who suffers?
8Who suffers?
- Social expenditures received the brunt of
expenditure cuts. - Most evident during the time of Arroyo
- The gap between education expenditure and debt
service grew by 52.06 in 2002, the highest in
recent history - Health and Social Security has not been a
priority for the longest time compared to debt
servicing
9Education Spending
- Average national spending for education by
administration show that based on 2000 prices,
the amount spent per pupil fell during Arroyos
time - Marcos (1981-85) Php 3 027
- Aquino (1986-92) Php 4 478
- Ramos (1993-95) Php 4 959
- Estrada (1999-01) Php 5 830
- Arroyo (2001-04) Php 5 467
- former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Real
State of the Nation, 20 July 2007
10Health Spending
- Combined (NG and LGU) per capita health spending
show that - Marcos (1981-85) spent Php 240
- Aquino (1986-92) Php 278
- Ramos (1993-98) Php 321
- Estrada (1999-00) Php 360
- Arroyo (2001-04) Php 303
- former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, Real
State of the Nation, 20 July 2007
11Congressional Debt Audit
- The call for a Congressional Debt Audit, calls
for a comprehensive investigation of all public
sector debts and contingent liabilities. - Last Congress, the House of Representatives
swiftly passed the Debt Audit Resolution, but the
Senate failed to take it up.
12Congressional Debt Audit
- 13th Congress Review of engagement
Positive Negative
? Unanimous approval of Passage House Joint Resolution No. 1 in Sept 2004 through the efforts of Lagman, Zialcita, progressive minority solons ? Discussion of Senate version blocked in the Committee of Finance headed by Sen. Villar
? Developed stronger support from several minority senators Pimentel, Madrigal, Lacson through other engagements ? Sen. Biazon not keen on fighting it out opted to develop an alternative bill creating a Debt Management Office
? Linked up for support with key staff of LP Drilon wing ? Sen. Enrile apparently unhappy about Biazons eventual authorship of the Senate version of the resolution
13Congressional Debt Audit
- 14th Congress Opportunities Challenges
OPPORTUNITIES CHALLENGES
? Lagmans continued commitment to pursue the debt audit other allies also committed ? Other issues such as charter change may put the debt audit agenda in the sidelines
? Senate dominated by opposition key allies in the HOR now in the Senate (Escudero, A. Cayetano), Trillanes ? The Senate President opposes Debt Audit Resolution
? Administration legislators dominates the Lower House
14Congressional Debt Audit
- How to move forward issues concerns
- Joint resolution vs Committee level audit
- Role of Rep. Lagman he has the capacity to once
again push for the passage in the Lower House,
but the dynamics between him and the Senate
should be assessed - Authorship of Biazon of the Senate version
possible author is Sen. Pimentel - How to handle Sen. Enrile?
- How else to maximize the favorable composition of
the Senate?
15Citizens Debt Audit
- Where we are
- Convened 36 individuals and political bloc
representatives as convenors of the Citizens debt
Audit in 2004 - Met three times in 2005 difficulty in convening
in 2006 as a result of the political crisis - FDCs work since 2006 up to the present allowed
it to consolidate sectors (YAD), and expand
support for the debt audit initiative (Budget
Consortium, ODA Watch, GCAP, LnM, other anti-GMA,
faith-based, etc.)
16Citizens Debt Audit Commission
- General Concept
- 1. Critical examination of the Philippine public
debt based on - Data and existing studies by resource persons and
organizations - Studies prepared by working groups and technical
teams to be organized by the Citizens Debt Audit
Commission - Testimonies and inputs from affected communities,
sectors and peoples organizations
17Citizens Debt Audit Commission
- Mechanics of the study
- The review and examination process will follow an
outline of the themes/topics. The presentations
and discussions will be aimed at establishing the
over-all picture (data, trends, etc.) and
answering general and specific questions
addressing the issues and problems related to the
themes/topics. - Studies, data and testimonies will be presented
to the Commissioners and to the general public in
Public Hearings. These sessions will devote
sufficient time for questions, clarifications and
open discussion. - The Commissioners may also have smaller
discussion-meetings with resource persons,
witnesses, working groups and technical teams.
18Citizens Debt Audit Commission
- 2. Preparation and release of reports summarizing
the findings of the Citizens Debt Audit and
formulation of recommendations and options based
on the findings. Thematic reports with
corresponding recommendations will be issued
periodically as theme of the review is completed.
A comprehensive over-all report with
recommendations will be issued at the end of the
process.
19Citizens Debt Audit Commission
- Mechanics of the reports and recommendations
- The draft report and recommendations for each
theme will be prepared by assigned commissioners
together with the working group(s), resource
persons and technical team concerned. - The draft report will be presented to all the
commissioners in Public Forums to which the
general public may be invited. The findings and
recommendations will be openly debated in the
Forums - The commissioners will finalize the
report/recommendations and submit it to
appropriate government entities, which may be
done with peoples participation (i.e. with
accompanying mobilization). A summary will be
presented to the media in press conferences
20Citizens Debt Audit Commission
- Themes and Topics
- 1. Overview of the Current Public Debt Situation
- 2. Overview of the Historical Development of the
Philippine Debt Problem Including - Global context
- Periods of Crisis, Policies implemented, Results
- History of Renegotiations and Debt Relief Schemes
- Critical Issues that Emerged
- 3. Borrowings Laws, Policies, Regulations,
Trends and Issues - 4. Debt Payments - Laws, Policies, Regulations,
Trends and Issues - 5. National Government Debt Overview, Trends
and Issues - 6. NG External Debt BNPP (lessons)
- 7. NG External Debt Project and Program Loans
outcome and impact of the projects, terms and
conditionalities
21Citizens Debt Audit Commission
- 8. NG External Debt Loan Conditionalities Debt
as Leverage for Adjustment Programs Relations
with Multilateral Financial Institutions - 9. Private Loans and Liabilities Assumed by the
National Government Behest Loans Brady
Securitization Deal - 10. Interest Rates Trends and Issues
- 11. NG External Debt Bonds - Trends and Issues
- 12. Government-Owned and Controlled Corporations
(GOCCs) and Government Financial Institutions
(GFIs) Debts - NAPOCOR debts, etc
- 13. Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) Projects Debts
and Liabilities - 14. NG Debt Domestic Debt
- 15. Old Central Bank and Bangko Central
- Other Topics for Background
- 1. Debt Relief, Debt Reduction Instruments and
Options - 2. Lessons and Experiences from Other Countries
22Citizens Debt Audit Commission
- Structure of the Commission
- Members of the Commission (not to exceed 20
individuals with established credibility
expertise) - Organizing and presiding over the process
- Taking the lead in the review, examination and
preparations of reports and recommendations - Ensuring peoples participation in the audit
process - Ensuring that the process is open and transparent
manner to the general public - Finalizing the reports and recommendations
23Citizens Debt Audit Commission
- Structure (contn)
- Technical Committee
- composed of consultants and technical experts
- Thematic Committees
- composed of peoples organizations, NGOs and
individuals to focus on putting together studies
on a particular theme or specific topic for the
audit process, to be submitted to the Citizens
Debt Audit commission. - will also work with assigned commissioner/s in
the preparations of the report and
recommendations, which will eventually be
presented and discussed in public forums. - Secretariat - events organizing, public
information and media research and data
base-building administration and finance (start
with two staff)
24- Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) Philippines
- http//www.freedomfromdebtcoalition.org
- mail_at_freedomfromdebtcoalition.org
- 63(02)9246399 (Tele-fax), 63(02)9211985
- Thank you.