Altogether, actual military spending for 2006 comes to a much higher P81.9 billion. These other military-related items include P630.5 million for the Philippine Military Academy (PMA), National Defence College (NDC) and Military Shrines Service under “education, culture and manpower development”. The combined P1.4 billion budget of the two military hospitals, the Armed Forces of the Philippines Medical Center (AFPMC) and Veterans Memorial Medical Center (VMMC), are categorized under “health” and, at 10 percent of the total health sector budget, they actually even account for a disproportionate share of it.
There is also the P24.3-billion worth of pensions and gratuities and for the Philippine Veterans Affairs Office (PVAO) under “social security, welfare and employment,” which is a huge 42 percent of the total social security, welfare and employment budget. There is a further total P3 billion allocation under the direction of the Department of National Defense (DND) and Office of the Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process (OPAPP) for the counter-insurgency Kalayaan Barangay Program for 500 conflict areas. These are “special purpose funds” split between the “other economic services” and “other social services” categories. Finally, there is also an additional P85 million for the Office of Civil Defence (OCD) under “public order and safety.”
The Arroyo administration is also using NG budget resources to gain the support of provincial governors and mayors in local government units. They already came out in force during the president’s state-of-the-nation (SONA) address at the opening of Congress in July and regularly mobilize rent-a-crowds to counter local anti-Arroyo mass actions. Allocations for capital outlays – traditionally the most expedient sources of pork barrel kickbacks – increased by a massive 37.7 percent in 2006 to P133.2 billion.
Using the budget for public welfare
In theory, the national budget can be a powerful mechanism for ensuring that public resources are used for the welfare of the majority. Government revenues, mainly generated through taxes, can be used for vital economic, social and public services. Unfortunately, narrow interests have perpetually hijacked the direction of Philippine economic policy and this is fully reflected in the NG budgets annually drawn up and implemented.
The Philippines is in the middle of a deep economic crisis and the people suffer from intensifying poverty, falling incomes, rising prices and high level of joblessness. Government should at least use its budget to mitigate the harsh impacts of these on the people.
However, the domination of elite interests prevents this from happening. Instead, the Arroyo administration is gearing the national budget towards gaining “investor and creditor confidence” and towards its political survival.
The 2006 proposed budget can best be described as a “creditors’ budget,” insofar as it continues to favor the interests of commercial banks and multilateral agencies that hold the country’s debt. Despite popular calls for a more progressive debt management policy – involving cancellation of the most odious debts and a debt cap on payments and new borrowings – government continues to defer to the country’s creditors.
Even worse, government has done little to address the endemic problem of corruption that robs it of millions in lost revenues. Further, it also refuses to tackle the problem of large amounts of foregone revenues due to steep tariff cuts and too-generous incentives to foreign investors. Instead, it passes on the cost of debt servicing to the people through onerous measures such as the Reformed Value-Added Tax, which will result in higher prices of basic goods and services. It also undertakes an “austerity” problem that hits social services the worst.
The administration’s budget for 2006 is also a “survival budget.” The Presidency faces a grave crisis of legitimacy as a result of perceived corruption reaching to Malacañang Palace and, more significantly, widespread belief of presidential-level electoral fraud in the 2004 national elections. Its reaction has been to aim to consolidate support from the military and police, on one hand, and from civilian local government units (LGUs), on the other, through increasing resources for presidential patronage. It is also financing the stifling of dissent in the cities and greater militarization in the countryside.
Given these realities, it is clear that the present administration will never pass a budget that can truly be called “pro-people.” A national government that truly upholds the interests and welfare of the majority can only arise as a result of the continued struggles of the people for genuine and fundamental political and economic change. IBON Features /Posted by Bulatlat
