P118K UTANG NG BAWAT PINOY! ECONOMIST WINNIE MONSOD WARNS OF ECONOMIC COLLAPSE, ASKS CONGRESS TO SCRUTINIZE CONFIDENTIAL FUNDS

By Junex Doronio

DO YOU KNOW THAT EVERY FILIPINO owes at least P118,000 because of the country’s outstanding debt of P13.7 trillion in January this year?

Imagine how much will it be now that Marikina City Congresswoman Stella Quimbo said the government will borrow P2.46 trillion to partly fund the P5.768 trillion national budget for 2024.

“Nangungutang tayo kasi ‘yung expenses ng gobyerno and the revenues of the government hindi nagkakatugma. Palagi tayong nade-deficit,” economist Winnie Monsod said in an interview with TeleRadyo Serbisyo.

She added: “You can ask Congress kung bakit ganyan, kung bakit napakalaki ng ating expenditures relative to our revenues?”

Warning that the Philippine economy will collapse if it can no longer pay its debts, Monsod said Congress can look into the issue of confidential funds.

She noted that some P4 billion in the Office of the President’s P10.7 billion budget is for confidential and intelligence funds.

To recall, it was administration ally Rep. Quimbo who revealed that the P125-million OVP confidential funds were spent in only 11 days.

Ironically, Quimbo has been defending the OVP’s confidential funds, but had no choice but to admit how fast they were spent as she was speaking on behalf of the Commission on Audit (COA) during the plenary deliberation on the proposed 2024 budget.

“What can VP Sara show for it? Nag-mass hiring ba ang OVP ng libo-libong informant sa loob lang ng 11 na araw? Nagpatayo ba sila ng daan-daang safehouse sa loob lamang ng 11 na araw?” opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros quipped.”Babalik lang tayo sa paulit-ulit na tanong: Saan niyo dinala ang pera? Naghihintay ng resibo ang buong Pilipinas.”

Various lawmakers led by House Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez and Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri, however, recently resolved to reallocate confidential and intelligence funds (CIF) to agencies in charge of intelligence and surveillance activities in the face of continuing incursions of Chinese vessels in the West Philippine Sea.

Monsod has expressed apprehension over the Philippines’ debt-to-GDP ratio at 64-65 percent.

“Hindi nakakabahala pero ‘yung rule of thumb is the debt of the country should not be more than 60 percent. ‘Yun bang for safety, it should not be more than 60 percent. When it is more than 60 percent, medyo tumitingin tingin na tayo,” she said. (ai/mnm)