DAVAO CITY – Militant youth group Anakbayan said the government’s proposed national budget for next year is anti-poor for prioritizing foreign debt.
In a statement, Anakbayan decried the top priority given by the Aquino government on foreign debt servicing which is P740.5 billion in the 2016 proposed budget, with P392.79 billion for interest payments and P347.7 billion for the principal amortizations.
The group said the P3.002 trillion proposed budget is also “riddled with hidden pork”.
The youth group cited the report of progressive bloc Makabayan which exposes that a minimum of P648.2 billion or at least 22 percent of the budget are in fact lump sums or pork barrel under the direct control of Malacañang.
Anakbayan said “the largest chunks of lump sums are in the form of special purpose funds (SPFs) which amount to P430.4 billion.”
“The SPFs increased by as high as 75.2 percent for 2016 from only P245.7 billion in the year 2015. The remaining P217.8 billion are in other lump sums hidden in 38 government agencies,” the group said.
“Aquino really is a dutiful puppet, diligently paying for onerous foreign debts while loaning more from foreign banks to implement foreign-oriented programs. In fact, Aquino will loan P674.8 billion next year just to fill the deficit in the proposed budget,” said Anakbayan national chair Vencer Crisostomo.
Anakbayan also said President Aquino’s flagship Public-Private Partnerships (PPP) “only benefits the principal cronies and big businesses closest to Aquino.”
“Under the proposed 2016 budget, 10 PPP projects amounting to P189 billion will be awarded to Ayala, Sy, Cojuangco and 13 other big tycoons. Contrary to its promise that government will not spend for these projects, the allocations for PPPs will not go below P65.9 billion,” Anakbayan said.
Crisostomo also said the P547.3 billion budget for the Department of Education “is actually way smaller than the proposed allocation for foreign debt servicing and pork barrel.”
“The 2016 education budget is only 3.6 percent of the Gross Domestic Product, far from the 6 percent standard of the United Nations. This is not enough,” said Crisostomo.
Crisostomo said their group will hold a Youth Action Day on August 27 to raise their issues.(davaotoday.com)
