Continued foreign debt servicing, begging for US aid double whammies needed to be overthrown amid Ondoy disaster – KMU

Amid the Ondoy disaster and an upcoming possible supertyphoon, Kilusang Mayo Uno called on the government to re-channel huge foreign debt service budget to calamity assistance, and to refrain from begging for US aid.

The government on Monday reported that it paid P487.7 billion for debts from January to August of this year, which is 2.21 percent higher than last year’s P477.2 billion.

Finance Secretary Margarito Teves has also just said that government is allocating P700.6 billion for debt payments this year, higher than the P681.5 billion programmed earlier.

“We can’t understand and accept the fact that the Arroyo government has been able to shell out P488 billion for debt payments since the start of the year, while it keeps on begging for foreign aid to respond to the Ondoy disaster,’ said KMU chairperson Elmer “Bong” Labog.

“It was our perennial indebtedness to US that caused our economy to sink, and our skewed development projects designed to attract foreign investments that made Metro Manila flood-prone.

“Continuing to pour huge chunks of the national budget to foreign debt, and strengthening dependence to US by begging funds from them are double whammies that will only plunge our nation deeper into depression,” Labog said.

“We also see the meanest intentions from the US in their supposed rescue assistance for the typhoon victims. They are taking advantage of the situation now so they can exploit more of our resources and dictate more on our economic and political affairs after the typhoon.

“They are also using the flood to legitimate the fast entry of their troops in the country. What the US really want to save is the vast exploitable resources and the strategic military base they have in the country,” Labog said.

“We need real and sincere efforts to recover from this typhoon disaster. Skewed government priorities and policies are the least our many suffering kababayans deserve.” #