MANILA, Philippines (PNA) - The national debt cap veto was meant to take advantage of the bullish market conditions and effectively manage the positive outlook of both domestic and foreign investors, according to Presidential Spokesman Atty. Edwin Lacierda. “We would like to take advantage of the favorable market conditions in the country right now. We got a strong peso, we could pay our debt services right now and we could issue bonds in peso,” he said in a press briefing on Wednesday.
Lacierda dismissed the claim of Senator Joker Arroyo that the P1.6-trillion first financial blueprint of President Benigno S. Aquino III was copied from the previous administration.
He pointed out that President Aquino vetoed the debt cap because of the bullish performance of the stock market and the outpouring investment pledges from foreign investors.
“That’s why (this administration) believes that debt cap is not proper at this point. We believe that we would better serve and manage the economy if we have no debt cap at this time,” he said.
Lacierda recalled that when Senator Arroyo was the executive secretary of then President Corazon Aquino, debt cap was also an issue. The good senator, he said, is practically raising the same ghost (question) against himself.
According to Lacierda, the debt cap was also a hot issue since the term of former President Elpidio Quirino in the 1950s and former President Ferdinand Marcos who scrapped the debt cap law through an executive order he issued during martial law.
