MANILA, Philippines – Senator Ana Theresia “Risa” Hontiveros called on the Duterte administration on Monday to conduct an audit on all of the country’s foreign loan agreements, which should include a probe both into the conditionalities of the rejected European Union (EU) aid packages and the recently acquired loans from China.
“There is a strong need to scrutinize all the loan agreements the Philippines has entered into, if they are legitimate and not riddled with questionable processes, contractual obligations, purposes and use,” the lawmaker said in a statement.
“These include the recently acquired loans from China,” she added.
Last week, the Philippine government through Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea announced that the country would no longer accept 250 million Euros ($278.88 million) worth of grants from the EU, citing unfair conditionalities that would supposedly interfere with domestic affairs.
Questioning the decision to reject the EU aid, Hontiveros urged the government to provide a list of the EU aid packages with unfair conditionalities and explain the mechanism they used in rejecting the said financial assistance.
“Which of the EU aid packages had unfair conditionalities? Can the government provide the public a list? Second, what exactly were the unjust conditionalities in the said grants and/or aid that could interfere with our national affairs?” she said.
“Third, how could the said conditionalities possibly interfere in our domestic affairs? Fourth, what audit mechanism was used by the government in rejecting the said aid?”
Hontiveros furtger said that unless the government provides the public more information about the supposed unfairness of the EU aid, its decision appeared to be a retaliation for the criticisms that the regional bloc aired on the human rights situation in the country.
Loans from China also raises concern
The senator also wants to know whether the billions of dollars in loans acquired from China by the Duterte administration also came with conditionalities.
“Since the government said that it is their policy to reject all aid and loans from countries with unjust conditionalities, I therefore ask, are Chinese loans without any conditionalities? Are they not tied loans?” she said.
“Were Chinese loans given with the condition that the Philippines will not enforce against China the UN-supported arbitral decision of the United Nations Arbitral Tribunal?”
She asked the government to make public the loan contracts from China and other related documents so the public would know if unlike the EU aid, these loans would not interfere with domestic affairs.
“Can the government provide the public the loan contracts and other documents to ascertain that they, too, will not interfere with our national affairs? Are Chinese loans in accordance with the principles on promoting responsible sovereign lending and borrowing by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)?” she said.
Debt audit pushed
Hontiveros urged the government to conduct a comprehensive debt audit as what is being sought under Senate Resolution 253 and mandated under the debt audit provision of the 2017 General Appropriations Act (GAA).
“If the government is serious in rejecting aid and loans with unjust conditions, it must be based on the appraisal of a debt audit process conducted in partnership with social movements working on debt and development issues,” she said.
Senate Resolution 253 was filed late last year by Hontiveros and Senate president Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, inquiring about the status of foreign loans of the country for the past 15 years.
The 2017 GAA has a special provision mandating Congress Oversight Committee on the Official Development Assistance Law to conduct a debt audit on 20 foreign loans of the country.
