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THE new
Congress was asked to craft sweeping fiscal reforms to
check “reckless borrowings” by government corporations
and plug loopholes in the grant of tax breaks to
undeserving beneficiaries.
Sen.
Edgardo Angara also vowed to push remedial legislation
aimed at speeding up government’s privatization
programs, which have been stalled by “legal and
technical hindrances.”
In a
statement over the weekend, Angara cited as an example
of reckless borrowing the case of the National Food
Authority which, he noted, has piled up about P50
billion in debts that NFA cannot pay.
Angara
pointed out that the NFA was able to engage in reckless
borrowings “because of the automatic government
guarantee given to loans obtained by state-owned
corporations.”
The
senator said there were other State-owned corporations
equally saddled with huge debts that these agencies
cannot service to settle obligations incurred with
government guarantee.
Angara
argued that the removal of the automatic guarantee for
loans contracted by the State-owned corporations will
compel borrowing State agencies to be more prudent and
“push the lenders to lend out money only to corporations
that can repay their loans.”
He
added, “once the automatic guarantee provision is
scrapped, the reckless borrowings will automatically
cease.”
At the
same time, Angara asserted that several tax waivers and
tax breaks that the government grants every year are
“unnecessary.”
Scrapping these tax breaks and waivers will translate
into revenue of roughly P250 million a year for the
government, he said. “The beneficiaries of the tax
breaks do not deserve them. They are neither pioneering
economic sectors nor deserving of tax breaks.” |
