Move to block debt payment suspension condemned

MANILA, Philippines - Civil society groups condemned on Tuesday a presidential move to block a national budget provision suspending interest payments on questionable loans. During the second leg of the Illegitimate Debt Forum Series held at the Philippine Heart Center on Tuesday morning, groups pointed out that money to be used for interest payments on illegitimate debts were already alloted to increase the budget of the Department of Health (DoH). As a result, the department will have an additional P6.81 billion allotment, incurring a total budget of P18.9 billion. However, with President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s veto of the suspension of debt interest payments, augmented expenditures for health approved by Congress may not materialize, the civil society groups said. Among these groups include Health Care Without Harm, Freedom from Debt Coalition, and Eco Waste Coalition, members of the broad network called People Against Illegitimate Debt (PAID). According to Director Maylene Beltran of the Health Policy Development and Planning Bureau, the DOH originally requested only P14.9 billion, but Congress passed a 66 per cent increase in the DOH’s budget for this year. The budget for the reduction of malaria, leprosy, tubercolosis and HIV-AIDS was increased by 327 percent. Upgrade for health services and provisions for environmental health were increased by 27 and 2,918 percent respectively. Director Beltran said that the partnership between the DOH and civil society groups in working on health issues has helped the department push for additional budget allotments in 2008. “There is a great need for us to concentrate our efforts in reaching the targets set by the Millenium Development Goals. Our maternal mortality rate, for instance, is still very high at 162 deaths per 100,000 live births," Beltran said in a statement. She also noted that historically only about 75 percent of the health department’s budget is ultimately released by the Department of Budget and Management. The presidential veto, according to the groups, honors illegitimate debts that were not only useless but actually financed projects harmful to citizens. Ronnel Lim, program officer of Health Care Without Harm, said that one such illegitimate debt is the Austrian loan that installed medical waste incinerators which were discovered to have been emitting extremely high levels of dioxins, more than 800 times the acceptable level. “For the harmful and useless incinerators, we now have to pay roughly $2 million in principal amortization and interest payments until 2014," added Lim. For its part, the Austrian Embassy in Manila said that the project “went through stringent review and evaluation by government agencies involved in waste management and the Investment Coordination Committee (ICC) process." “The Austrian supplier, Vamed Engineering, worked closely with the Department of Health from the preparation of the project, review by the NEDA-ICC [National Economic and Development Authority]... until the execution of the project and the one year maintenance period," said a document, which was emailed to GMANews.TV by the Austrian Embassy’s Commercial Section. The same document also explained that in May 1998, the incinerators’ tests indicated that emission levels were below standards used by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR). “It is worthwhile to note that the incinerators were not designed to meet the standards of the Clean Air Act as these standards were not even under consideration during the project preparation stages in 1996 and 1997," said the document, sent by Dr. Walter Höfle, the Austrian Embassy’s Commercial Counsellor. “Should the Philippines see the need to use other methods and technologies in disposing its waste, Austria will remain open in supporting the Philippines in its developmental efforts." - GMANews.TV