Audit sought for Arroyo's P2.2-B project in Pampanga

A party-list lawmaker on Wednesday proposed a comprehensive debt audit on the P2.2-billion worth of projects former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo secured for the second district of Pampanga, which she now represents in Congress. Akbayan Rep. Walden Bello also urged President Benigno Aquino III to order Congress to investigate Arroyo’s road projects in her district. Bello had accused Arroyo of padding the budget allotted for Pampanga’s second district with projects worth a total of P2.22 billion funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the Korea Economic Development and Cooperation Fund (KEDCF). Some of the projects, he said, are unfinished up to the present, citing the road elevation projects in Guagua town. “The President must order Congress to exercise its oversight functions and investigate the P2.2 billion worth of projects for Pampanga. With enough evidence that the projects have not, or are not beneficial to the people, and the situation under which these loans were contracted is riddled with anomalies, the government can move to cancel debt payments," Bello said in a statement. Debt audit He said Aquino must also issue a moratorium on the payment of the loans while the audit is ongoing. According to Bello, debt audit is part of a comprehensive strategy that leads to the cancellation of odious and illegitimate debts. He said it is a process that is gaining international legitimacy for being a solution to developing countries’ problem of inheriting debt from the bad practices of previous administrations that lead to financial hemorrhage and a deficit of resources for social welfare projects. “It would therefore not be too difficult to prove that the P2.2 billion projects in Mrs. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s district are odious, and are worth cancelling," said Bello. Baseless, unfounded Arroyo’s camp, meanwhile, had described Bello’s accusations as baseless and unfounded. According to Elena Bautista-Horn, Arroyo’s chief of staff and spokesperson, the allocations were intended for two foreign-assisted projects that started in 1996 and 2003, following the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo in 1991. She said the JBIC is funding the Urgent Bridge Construction Project for Rural Road Development or the Mt. Pinatubo Hazard Mapping which started in 1996, and the 2003 Gapan-San Fernando Olongapo-Road which is being financed by the Korean EDCF. Bautista-Horn said the P1.678 billion will come from foreign funding and the government will shell out some P542 million-plus as counterpart fund. “Hindi tama na sabihin na ginamit ni GMA ang impluwensiya dahil loan agreement ang napirmahan noong March 1996 dahil sa Pinatubo eruption. Sana ‘wag ituro ng mga daliri, nagkataon lang na kongresista siya at benepisyunaryo siya ng loan agreement that happened in 1996," Bautista-Horn said in an earlier interview. (It’s not right to say that Arroyo used her influence because the loan agreement was signed in March 1996 due to the Pinatubo eruption. We wish there will be no finger-pointing, because it so happened that she was then a senator and a beneficiary of the loan agreement that happened in 1996.) Accountability But according to Bello, a debt audit on the P2.2B is the best place to start exacting accountability from Arroyo. He said as studies of groups such as Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) show, the Arroyo administration has contracted numerous debts that show signs of clear illegitimacy or wastefulness. “The Aquino administration only has to get the ball rolling, and we will be well on our way to making sure that Mrs. Arroyo pays back the Filipino people for every single deal that she, her family, and closest allies shamelessly orchestrated and profited from," Bello said. He further said a successful debt audit means the government can finally re-channel debt payments to fund education, health care, and other social welfare programs that are seriously lacking in the anti-poverty efforts. He said Ecuador in 2008 canceled the repayment of interest on foreign debt worth some $30 million following a successful debt audit, and Argentina in 2005, unilaterally declared to pay only a portion of their foreign debt to rescue the country from financial crisis. “Along with other progressive legislators, we have long advocated the debt audit to be a solution to the financial hemorrhage that the country suffers because of the debt repayments," Bello said. “With the support of the new administration, Arroyo’s bad projects and loans is the perfect place to start a congressional debt audit and finally free the Filipino people from the burden of illegitimate debts," he added. - KBK, GMANews.TV