10 October 2006
Ref:
TAÑADA
ON THE 2007 BUDGET: Stop Appropriations
for Interests and Principal Debt Payments for Marcos and BNPP Debts
As the 2007
budget deliberations picks up, Quezon Representative
Lorenzo R. Tañada III called on the members of the 13th
Congress to heed the Freedom from Debt Coalition’s call to halt principal and
debt payments for the Marcos and Bataan Nuclear Power
Plant debts.
“We should seize
our last chance to say to the world that the Filipino people should not pay for
immoral and odious debts. This is
specifically true for the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, the last payment of its unsecuritized
debt is scheduled for 2007. Letting this
opportunity slip by is, to my mind, an affront on our sovereign right as a
people. It sends a clear message that it
is alright to steal and enter into anomalous deals at the expense of our
taxpayers. It also would tell a lot on
the kind of representatives we truly are, of our people,” Tañada said.
According to FDC,
the National Government has allocated a total of UsD 16.3 million for BNPP debts as final payments to
American Express, Bank of Tokyo, US EXIMBANK, Union Bank of
Further, as of end Dec 2005, the Bureau of Treasury
estimates that the national government still has an outstanding obligation
amounting US$ 783 million of all Marcos Debts.
“Most of the Marcos debts are under contention by
government itself. The Executive should
have at least work towards putting all the payments
therein in escrow so that the money remains intact until the court cases are
resolved. But Congress is not without
recourse. It can and should stop appropriations to pay for these
Marcos debts. Our debt payments run as high as $1.37
million a minute and every effort to stop this profuse bleeding helps,” the young Tañada
said.