THE PALACE-JOKER ARROYO WORD WAR RAGES
[PHOTO - LAWYER, LEGISLATOR, SENATOR JOKER ARROYO]
MANILA, DECEMBER 31, 2010 (BULLETIN) By MARIO B. CASAYURAN – The raging "word war" between Sen. Joker Arroyo and the Aquino administration continues, particularly on the Congress-imposed debt ceiling issue.
Arroyo said "the Student Council in Malacañang should, for a change, study and research first on a subject before making any pronouncement."
Arroyo, the Executive Secretary of the late President Corazon C. Aquino in the mid-80s, fired his broadside at the Malacañang press office for "self-assuredly" stating that the debt cap issue was taken up during the late President Aquino's term.
"What was taken up during President Cory's (Aquino's) term was Debt Repudiation, Not Debt Cap; of course, they are totally different concepts," Arroyo said.
"The only ghost that we have here is the Student Council's own – that is, its dicey track record," he added.
Arroyo, a member of the Senate Minority group, had earlier labeled President Benigno S. Aquino III, son of the late President Aquino, as a virtual clone of former President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo (GMA) in following her presidential veto on a 2011 budget provision imposing a 55 percent ceiling on debt borrowing.
In signing the 2011 P1.645-trillion national budget last Monday, President Aquino kept all appropriation items intact but vetoed 13 general and specific provisions in the budget, including the 55 percent debt borrowing cap.
"Right after EDSA, the new government of Cory Aquino was faced with a gargantuan pile of sovereign debts incurred during Marcos' martial law government, which was tainted with scandalous corruption. So the issue arose: should the government repudiate those debts," Arroyo said.
"The Cory Aquino Cabinet composed of the likes of Salvador "Doy" Laurel, Jovito Salonga, Juan Ponce Enrile, (Ramon) Mitra, (Roberto) Ongpin, Ernesto Maceda, Neptali Gonzales, Winnie Monsod, (Jaime) Ferrer, (Rogaciano) Mercado and others, engaged in a vigorous debate to settle the matter. One school of thought argued that justice and equity justified debt repudiation; the other discussed the risk of the country being considered a pariah in the international community in light of being declared in cross-default, etc.," he pointed out.
Arroyo emphasized that the matter of debt cap was never considered.
"The President then was exercising both executive and legislative powers and the President could have so adopted the policy without need for congressional approval," he said.
"The US is, in many ways, our model. There is a debt ceiling in the US President's power to borrow money, but the US Congress would invariably increase the ceiling whenever it is justified by necessity," he said.
"For the cause of fiscal prudence and transparency, why can't we adopt the same?" he asked.
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