The Philippine Online Chronicles

If the country's debt problem is not resolved immediately, said Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) secretary general Milo Tanchuling at the organization's congress on August 17, the country's national debt would balloon to P5 trillion.

In his speech at the FDC's annual National Debt Conference, which featured a series of presentations on the debt challenges facing the country and the new Aquino government, Tanchuling cited Treasury figures, saying that while the majority of debt is from foreign sources, domestic debt accounts for around 55 percent of the overall government debt burden. He urged vigilance on several economic policies of the new government. In particular, he cited private-public partnerships, which he suggested were privatization schemes in a new guise.

Other topics tackled in the conference included alternative financing mechanisms and paradigms for global finance, and the need to resolve “social debt” by appropriating more money for social services. Also, the issue of climate debt—or the need for polluting countries to pay for the consequences of high greenhouse gas emissions—was discussed. This was in response to Senator Juan Ponce Enrile’s recent discussion on the subject. The question of illegitimate debts and how these should be repudiated was also raised.

Rep. Walden Bello of Akbayan situated the debt problem in the context of the global financial crisis. “We are in a global capitalist crisis,” Bello said, “and it is leading us into an era of global stagnation, if not depression.”

This discussion was a prelude to the congress’s discussion of the FDC’s future plans, and a New Economic Policy that would be the basis of the FDC’s advocacy with the new government. It discusses the groundwork for a renewed social, political, and economic framework that would resolve the country’s debt problem among others.

In the open forum that followed, Bello called on President Benigno Aquino III to denounce the compromise deal reached between farmers and the Hacienda Luisita corporation. “His moral intervention is imperative in this situation,” Bello said. The two Akbayan representatives have filed a resolution calling for an investigation into the aforementioned deal.

FDC chooses new leadership

The coalition, now 22 years old, recently welcomed a large number of new local member organizations in an effort to strengthen its grassroots base.

Akbayan founding member and former Pasig mayoral candidate Ric Reyes was elected as the FDC's new president on Thursday, at the conclusion of the coaltion’s congress held from August 17 to 19 at the Rembrandt Hotel, Quezon City.

Also chosen were new leaders for the next three years, including singer Noel Cabangon, who was elevated to the FDC board of trustees.

The FDC is composed of over 60 member organizations, and aims to help the government craft an effective economic platform by strengthening mass participation in advocacies such as those on debt, public finance, and privatization of essential services.

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