Ngayon lang nangyari to! Hontiveros praises provision on debt audit in 2017 budget - News Spy


Ngayon lang nangyari to! Hontiveros praises provision on debt audit in 2017 budget



Ngayon lang nangyari to! Hontiveros praises provision on debt audit in 2017 budget

Senator Risa Hontiveros couldn’t agree more on the fact that the newly-signed P3.35-trillion national budget is “a historic first in the history of the Philippine budget system.”

Hontiveros, who have repeatedly accused President Duterte of being misogynist, lauded the adoption of her amendment introducing a special provision in the 2017 General Appropriations Act (GAA) mandating Congress to conduct a comprehensive audit of the country’s debt.

The said provision will put to task the Congressional Oversight Committee on Overseas Development Assistance to conduct a debt audit to ascertain the legitimacy of a list of loan agreements perceived to be illegitimate.

“This is truly a historic first. With this provision, we commit to diligently scrutinize the country’s debts if they are indeed in accordance with the principles on promoting responsible sovereign lending and borrowing by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) and repudiate the illegitimate part of our overall debt,” she said.

“I would like to commend the Senate finance committee chaired by Sen. Loren Legarda, my fellow senators, the Executive branch and the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) for supporting the inclusion of this provision in our national budget,” Hontiveros added.

The senator, however, reminded the public that there remains a lot to be done to fully reform the government’s budget process.

Source: Politiko