POLITICAL reporters of the aughts (they are now old men and women like myself) still remember that the national budget, a controversial topic nowadays, was discussed with utmost seriousness and severity by the two chambers of Congress during the 8th Congress, the first to be convened after martial law. Not in the crass, pork barrel-centric, grab-what-you-can discussions of the present times, but in deferential terms, befitting a document regarded as the second most important document after the Constitution. For example, it was routine for members of both chambers then to file resolutions to seek debt condonation from international creditors to ease the burden of debt repayment and free up sizable funds that the national budget could allot for legitimate development programs.
The central argument was this: Debt condonation would free up substantial funds that would otherwise be dutifully paid to foreign creditors. The freed sums would then be realigned in the national budget for the development dreams of the nation, a struggling democracy still in the process of rebuilding its democratic institutions. A rebuilding nation needed help, so the argument went, and the international creditors were in a real position to help ease the repayment burden.
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