Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, August 16) — Senators questioned the government’s plan to borrow more despite the country’s ballooning debt, with one lawmaker suggesting that Filipinos should bear more children to help solve the problem.
During a briefing with the Marcos administration’s economic team on the proposed 2024 budget, Senate Minority Leader Koko Pimentel expressed his disbelief after Finance chief Benjamin Diokno reiterated that the debt situation was not worrisome.How come the position is we should not worry about debt? How come Filipinos should not worry about their ballooning debt?” Pimentel asked.The country’s debt stock jumped to ₱14.15 trillion by the end of June, data from the Bureau of the Treasury showed.
READ: PH debt further climbs to ₱14.15 trillion as of end-June
For next year, the national government would need to shell out ₱1.9 trillion for debt payments, according to National Treasurer Rosalia de Leon.By the end of 2024, the country’s debt is expected to further rise to ₱15.8 trillion – a projection that did not sit well with Pimentel.Sir, kasi po ‘di ba deficit pa po tayo (since we’re still recording deficit) so meaning to say we have to continue to borrow to finance our budget,” De Leon explained.The president’s sister, Sen. Imee Marcos, echoed Pimentel’s sentiment, as she questioned the plan to borrow ₱3 trillion next year when the Philippines has been moving on from the COVID-19 pandemic.Sen. Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa, meanwhile, floated the idea of increasing the Filipino population to settle the mounting debt.Merong nagsasabi na mas maganda siguro kung mas manganak tayo ng maraming anak kasi para lumaki ang population natin at pag lumaki ang population, mas marami ang mahahati-hati sa utang. So don’t panic, mga Pilipino. Utang lang ‘yan kayang kaya ‘yan,” Dela Rosa said.[Translation: Some say it would be better if we had more children because our population would grow and when the population grows, more people will be able to contribute to paying the debt. So don’t panic, Filipinos. That’s just a debt, we can settle that.]Economic managers, however, insisted that the Philippines has to incur more loans to finance investments and spur economic growth.They also stressed that in the end, it is the poor who will benefit.We can grow at a rate without borrowing but we have to be content with 1% growth. Is that the growth we want? We cannot become even an upper middle country in the next 20 years,” National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said.Kung ikaw ay mahirap, hindi po naman napakalaki ang binabayad niyong buwis e (If you’re poor, you’re not paying high taxes). But you get a lot of benefit – free education, free health care, social protection measures. That’s the way you should look at the budget,” Diokno added.But opposition Sen. Risa Hontiveros was not convinced, saying the government has been failing to deliver its promises to the masses.Nasa krisis po sila at nag-alala po sila hindi po sila nakikinabang talaga sa kumpletong libreng health care, yung mga problema sa proteksyon, damang-dama pa rin nila. Hindi pa rin nila naranasan na magmura na ang pagkain, ni pamasahe,” she said.[Translation: They are in crisis and they are worried that they are not really benefiting from the complete free health care, the problems in protection, they still feel it. They still haven’t experienced affordable food, or fares.]
