Newsgroups: bit.listserv.seasia-l
Date:         Sat, 25 Jul 1992 06:13:13 PDT
From:         "Indonesia Publications/Task Force" <apakabar@IGC.APC.ORG>
Subject:      PH: Debt Package Protest
X-To:         seasia-l@msu.edu

/* Written  5:24 pm  Jul 24, 1992 by gn:geonet in cdp:geo2.philippin */
/* ---------- "LONDON PROTEST AT DEBT PACKAGE" ---------- */
Subject: LONDON PROTEST AT DEBT PACKAGE
From: GEO2:PRC
Date: 24-07-92, 14:48:11
To: PHILIPPINES

PHILIPPINE RESOURCE CENTRE
84 LONG LANE
LONDON SE1 4AU
TEL: 071 378 0296 FAX: 071 403 3997

24th July 1992
LONDON

PRESS RELEASE

PROTEST AT PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT DEAL WITH BANKS

A picket will take place at 11am London time today outside the
Mayfair Hotel, London, to protest the signing of a debt
package between Philippine government negotiators, Central
Bank Govenor Jose Cuisia and Finance Secretary Ramon del
Rosario and creditor banks.
The package covers $4.8 billion of debt due to foreign
commercial banks of the total $30 billion owed to foreign
creditors.
The picket is in support of the position and issues raised by
the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) in the Philippines.
Please see the statement below for details.
A letter questioning the package has been written to the
Minister for Overseas Development, the Rt. Honourable the
Baroness Lynda Chalker  by Shadow Minister for Overseas
Development and Cooperation, Ann Clwyd, Member of Parliament
in the UK.

24 July 1992


BAILING OUT THE BANKS AND
DROWNING THE POOR

The Philippine Resource Centre is joining with the Freedom
from Debt Coalition (FDC), a broad coalition of over 200
Philippine groups opposed to the draining of the country's
resources through debt repayments, in protesting at the debt
package to be agreed today in London between Philippine
government negotiators and a consortium of foreign commercial
banks.
The package covers approximately $4.8b of debt due to foreign
commercial banks, of a total $30b owed to foreign creditors.
Among the grounds for opposing the deal are the following:
1. The package will legitimize fraudelent loans to the Marcos
regime for which successor governments are being held
responsible by foreign banks. $256m of the package, for
instance, is accounted for by commercial bank loans to the
infamous Bataan Nuclear Power Plant project.
2. The package is one that the Philippines can ill afford.
Debt servicing eats 25% of export earnings in a country with
one of the lowest per capita calorie intakes in Asia, further
impoverishing the poorest sectors of society. The deal will
accentuate rising unemployment, deepening poverty and an acute
lack of basic social services including health.
3. This package precludes future options on debt relief or
reduction, tying the Philippines to onerous terms.
4. The deal will be signed amid widespread national discontent
in the Philippines. Former President Corazon Aquino defered
debate and a decision until a new President was elected in May
elections. The new President, ex-General Fidel Ramos signed
the deal without consulting the newly elected Congress (which
sits this coming Monday, 27 July). The FDC has challenged the
legality of the deal in the Supreme Court.
5. The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund have
been instrumental in persuading the Philippine government to
agree to this package. FDC continues to lobby against the
excessive pressure on the Philippine government from the WB
and IMF.
PRC supports FDC demands that fraudelent loans be repudiated
and that repayment of remaining debt be renegotiated on more
favourable terms and that the money saved be diverted to
meeting the basic needs of the 70% of the population who live
in poverty.
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU