Taxpayers to end up paying for Quedancor's P1.3-B debt
04/08/2008 | 10:32 PM
MANILA, Philippines - In the end, it is the taxpayers who will end up paying the P1.3-B loan Quedan Rural Credit and Guarantee Corp (Quedancor) incurred in its failed P4.26-billion swine program.
In GMA’s 24 Oras, reporter Maki Pulido reported that according to Danilo Reyes, Accounting and Strategic Management professor in Miriam College, with Quedancor hard-pressed to cough up fund to pay its 4-year old debt, it is likely that the government will end up shouldering the bill.
“The government has to provide the money to be able to pay Landbank for the debt, because if Landbank is not paid for this, then you bankrupt a bank," Reyes said.
The television report said P1.3 billion was part of the P2.4 billion debt by Quedancor.
Quedancor launched a swine program in 2003 to assist farmers venturing into hog-raising. Some P5 billion in funds went to the project, with P3 billion coming from the Land Bank of the Philippines and P2 billion from Equitable-PCI Bank, and government bonds issued as collateral.
The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) echoed Reyes’ statement, saying Quedancor’s debt will be an additional burden to the Filipino taxpayer.
“In both direct form of taxation and in indirect form of taxation, all these taxes, they will end up one way or another as payment for debts," said Emman Hizon, FDC’s debt and public finance campaigner.
Quedancor, for their part, said they have been paying their debts since 2004, which they said was the reason why the figure was trimmed down to P1.3 billion from P2.4 billion.
“When we assumed office we intensified our efforts of collection. We were able to reduce (our debt) to P1.3 billion," Agriculture undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said.
The Senate had already expressed its intention to probe the alleged swine scam, with opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson filing Senate Resolution 340, which sought to find the status of the funds that went to the program amid claims that they ended up in the administration's campaign kitty.
"It seems that multi-billion anomalies are becoming the hallmark of this administration to the detriment of our people... Like the fertilizer scam, there are allegations that the fund for the swine program were diverted to the 2004 campaign fund of the administration to ensure the re-election bid of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo," Lacson said in the resolution.
Lacson also noted that in July 2004, Malacañang transferred Quedancor from the Department of Agriculture to the Office of the President.
Malacañang, on the other hand, has tossed to Quedancor the task of explaining to the public the reported irregularities in the P4.26-billion swine program.
"In the spirit of transparency yan ang dapat sagutin ng Quedancor, the primary agency (In the spirit of transparency, it is Quedancor that must explain, because it was the primary agency involved)," Cerge Remonde, head of the Presidential Management Staff, said.- GMANews.TV
In GMA’s 24 Oras, reporter Maki Pulido reported that according to Danilo Reyes, Accounting and Strategic Management professor in Miriam College, with Quedancor hard-pressed to cough up fund to pay its 4-year old debt, it is likely that the government will end up shouldering the bill.
“The government has to provide the money to be able to pay Landbank for the debt, because if Landbank is not paid for this, then you bankrupt a bank," Reyes said.
The television report said P1.3 billion was part of the P2.4 billion debt by Quedancor.
Quedancor launched a swine program in 2003 to assist farmers venturing into hog-raising. Some P5 billion in funds went to the project, with P3 billion coming from the Land Bank of the Philippines and P2 billion from Equitable-PCI Bank, and government bonds issued as collateral.
The Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) echoed Reyes’ statement, saying Quedancor’s debt will be an additional burden to the Filipino taxpayer.
“In both direct form of taxation and in indirect form of taxation, all these taxes, they will end up one way or another as payment for debts," said Emman Hizon, FDC’s debt and public finance campaigner.
Quedancor, for their part, said they have been paying their debts since 2004, which they said was the reason why the figure was trimmed down to P1.3 billion from P2.4 billion.
“When we assumed office we intensified our efforts of collection. We were able to reduce (our debt) to P1.3 billion," Agriculture undersecretary Bernie Fondevilla said.
The Senate had already expressed its intention to probe the alleged swine scam, with opposition Senator Panfilo Lacson filing Senate Resolution 340, which sought to find the status of the funds that went to the program amid claims that they ended up in the administration's campaign kitty.
"It seems that multi-billion anomalies are becoming the hallmark of this administration to the detriment of our people... Like the fertilizer scam, there are allegations that the fund for the swine program were diverted to the 2004 campaign fund of the administration to ensure the re-election bid of President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo," Lacson said in the resolution.
Lacson also noted that in July 2004, Malacañang transferred Quedancor from the Department of Agriculture to the Office of the President.
Malacañang, on the other hand, has tossed to Quedancor the task of explaining to the public the reported irregularities in the P4.26-billion swine program.
"In the spirit of transparency yan ang dapat sagutin ng Quedancor, the primary agency (In the spirit of transparency, it is Quedancor that must explain, because it was the primary agency involved)," Cerge Remonde, head of the Presidential Management Staff, said.- GMANews.TV
