FDC In The News: On 2008 NG Budget

In its banner story on the recently-ratified 2008 NG budget today, BusinessMirror quoted Freedom from Debt Coalition as saying that it welcomed the development, particularly on the special provision suspending interest payments on “debts which are challenged as fraudulent, wasteful and/or useless,” describing this as a “critical and historical provision that represents a major step forward in our fight against illegitimate debt.”

BusinessMirror
29 January 2008, Banner story
http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/01292008/headlines01.html

Bicam budget copy ratified
P25.9-BILLION CUTS FROM INTEREST PAYMENTS REALIGNED TO SERVICES
By Fernan Marasigan and Mia M. Gonzalez
Reporters

WE have a budget. The House and Senate ratified Monday the bicameral conference report on the 2008 National Government Budget that places high priority on sustained support for social services and infrastructure development and the country’s commitment to the United Nations Millennium Development Goals.

Lakas Rep. Edcel Lagman of Albay and Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, chairman of the House appropriations committee and of Senate finance, respectively, signed the joint conference committee report on House Bill 2454, the general appropriations bill, that virtually maintained the expenditure ceiling of P1.227 trillion proposed by President Arroyo, but redirected some of the allocations from debt service to necessary social services.

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