4 presidential bets bare plans vs fiscal deficit

Four presidential candidates on Wednesday proposed to modify the government's approach in paying debts to address the country's worsening fiscal deficit problem. In a presidential forum at San Sebastian College, Senator Jamby Madrigal, environmentalist Nicanor Perlas, and evangelist Eddie Villanueva said they would repudiate or renegotiate debts should they win the presidency in May. "I would ask for debt repudiation...because technically these debts did not help us," said Madrigal, an independent candidate. Villanueva and Perlas, for their part, said they would realign government expenditures by appealing to postpone the automatic debt payments. "Magne-negotiate po tayo sa kanila na ‘yung binabayad na automatic [debt] payment will not be implemented (we will negotiate so that the automatic debt payment would not be implemented) ," Villanueva said. The more prominent presidential candidates - Sen. Benigno "Noynoy" Aquino, Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., former President Joseph Estrada, and Gilberto Teodoro Jr. - did not show up at the forum. In Marikina City, Bagumbayan standard-bearer Sen. Richard Gordon said he would expand tax base by ensuring tax evaders would pay their obligations. He also proposed to review the state’s “non-performing" agencies, which he said do not provide revenues. "I will expand the tax base kasi kung wala kang revenues it means hindi ka nakaka-collect ng tax. There are three million tax payers in the country, dapat gawin natin 10 million. Maraming hindi nagbabayad ng tax para magawa mo yan pakita mo na walang kurakot," he said in an ambush interview. (I will expand tax base because if you don’t have revenues it means that taxes are not efficiently collect. There are plenty of tax evaders. We should increase to 10 million the measly three million tax payers in the country.) The government incurs a deficit when it spends more than it can earn. To finance the gap, the state borrows either locally or abroad or both, leading to rising debt. Data from the Treasury bureau showed that the government’s debt has climbed to P4.424 trillion as of October 2009 from P4.338 trillion last September. Of the P4.833-trillion debt, P2.822 trillion is owed to local creditors, while the balance is owed to foreign lenders. This means each of the 92.23 million Filipinos owes roughly P47,968. Last December, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Governor Amando Tetango Jr. challenged presidential aspirants to come up with clear fiscal plans since the country's goal to balance the budget in 2008 was derailed due to the global financial crisis. Poor tax collections and unrealized gains from the sale of government assets are among those blamed for the ballooning budget deficit. - Aie Balagtas See/KBK, GMANews.TV