Saludo earns Drilon’s ire

Senate President Franklin Drilon berated Deputy Presidential Spokesman Ricardo Saludo yesterday for his "apparent ignorance" of his principal’s policy on how to resolve the looming fiscal crisis.

"The reason why the Arroyo administration and its communication arm seem to be in utter disarray is because we have ill-advised characters like Saludo who apparently does not know what he is talking about," an angry Drilon said.

In a related development, Sen. Ralph Recto proposed yesterday that Malacañang be required to seek congressional approval for borrowings beyond its annual budget deficit projections.

Recto said his proposal would in effect prescribe a credit limit for the executive branch.

"Without a credit limit, the government acts like a boy let loose in a candy store, or a ‘shopaholic’ matron rummaging through clothes during a ‘midnight madness’ sale," he said.

To prevent the national debt from shooting through the roof again, the executive should be placed under a "borrowing cap regime," he added.

Under his proposal, any borrowing that is beyond the annual budget deficit figures that the President submits to Congress every year should be cleared with the legislature.

The outburst of the usually calm Drilon was prompted by Saludo’s statement that Drilon’s debt cap proposal was no longer necessary since the administration is already limiting its foreign and local borrowings.

Saludo said the government had to borrow more money, not only to pay for interest and maturing loans, but also to fill the budget deficit.

Drilon said the Palace official was not aware that he had coordinated with Budget Secretary Emilia Boncodin on his debt cap proposal.

"Si Mr. Saludo, mukhang hindi alam kung ano ang nangyayari, kung ano ang policy ng Pangulong Arroyo. Siguro mag-usap muna sila ni Secretary Boncodin bago siya magsalita," he said.

"I think this is a good time to discuss such plan," Drilon said.

The Senate boss is advocating the setting of a limit on local and foreign borrowings in the wake of the government’s unchecked borrowing spree, which has led the country to its present precarious fiscal condition.

He said the fiscal situation is such that if the Philippines were a family earning P10,000 a month, it has become mired in debt by borrowing P13,000, about 30 percent more than its income.

He pointed out that the P5.4 trillion debt stock is roughly 130 percent of gross domestic product or GDP, which represents the value in one year of goods sold and services rendered in the country.

Asked about the decision of National Treasurer Mina Figueroa to resign irrevocably, Drilon said he has gathered from the resigned official that her resignation has nothing to do with the fiscal crisis.

Figueroa was among administration officials who attended a hearing of the Senate finance committee yesterday on the proposed P907 billion 2005 budget.

She was asked repeatedly by Sen. Manuel Villar Jr., committee chairman, on why she was resigning irrevocably effective Oct. 16.

"Your honor, it has something to do with personal (financial) deficit, rather than the fiscal deficit," she said.

She said she wants to go back to the private sector. She was a vice president of a private bank before joining the government in 1999. — Jess Diaz