Global Jubilee call for cancellation of World Bank $60 Billion Philippines’ debt part extravagant Marcos era’s $132 billion loan

A view of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) in Morong, Bataan, north of Manila.The U.S.-built plant, completed in 1984, sits on an earthquake fault line and has never generated electricity. Photo March 17, 2011. REUTERS/Erik de Castro

 

Aid agencies call for cancellation of Philippines' foreign debts

 

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Lenders should cancel the Philippines' international debt of $60 billion to help the country pay for work needed to recover from Typhoon Haiyan and prepare for future emergencies, Christian Aid said on Thursday, a view echoed by other aid agencies.

 

The Philippines pays its international lenders nearly $22 million a day in interest, so has paid more than $550 million since Typhoon Haiyan struck nearly one month ago, Christian Aid said in a statement.

 

Repayments of debt and interest on loans amassed over 40 years, including the extravagant Marcos era, total some $132 billion, it said.

 

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The president of the Freedom from Debt Coalition, Ricardo Reyes, agreed with the call, saying he believed that "justice for the Filipino people demands debt cancellation, especially the illegitimate debts, which are odious, onerous, illegal, violate human rights, harmful to the people, environment and climate, and bereft of institutional processes and the consent of the people."

 

"Climate justice demands reparations to enable the Philippines to develop resilience to climate change and compensation for losses and damages," he added.

 

"International lenders should put life before debt and cancel the Philippines' foreign debt obligations as a matter of urgency, " the director of Jubilee Debt Campaign, Sarah-Jayne Clifton, said. "The Philippines urgently needs funding for relief and reconstruction efforts, as well as to adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change and support communities who live in areas that are beyond adaptation," Clifton added.

 

Reconstruction costs after Typhoon Haiyan, which killed more than 5,600 people and wrecked more than a million homes, are estimated at between $6.5 billion and $15 billion.  The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank have announced a total of $1 billion in loans for rebuilding.

 

An IMF country report published in April said that one-fifth of the country's yearly revenue goes on debt servicing.

 

"The Philippines is prone to natural disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes. Debts that should have been cancelled years ago are limiting the country's capacity to respond and prepare for future emergencies. Action on this is clearly needed before any new debts are added," said Christian Aid's senior economic justice adviser, Joseph Stead.

 

The Jubilee Debt Campaign, Freedom from Debt Coalition, Jubilee South (Asia) and Christian Aid have launched a petition calling on lenders such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank to cancel the Philippines' debt.

 

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The campaigners say the Philippines has not derived much benefit from its sizeable loans. In one case, they say, loans were taken for a nuclear power plant, but the U.S. builder sited it on an earthquake fault line near a volcano, and it never generated any electricity.

 

The Philippines was excluded from the global Jubilee movement, a campaign for the cancellation or repudiation of developing country debts, as it was considered to be too rich.

 

There were 16 million malnourished people in the Philippines in 2011, according to an FAO report.

 

The campaign resulted in the cancellation of $130 billion of debt, most of it owed by African countries. –Thomson Reuters Foundation

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BIR Kim Henares KNOCKED DOWN by Paquiao for 1 round blow in DOJ ring fight; Dead’s Bank Accounts would be TAX in revenge

BIR Kim Henares versus Manny Pacquiao and the People of the Philippines.  Obviously, Kim Henares got knocked down by just first round in DOJ ring fight.

 

Besides the living, BIR now going after the dead to boost tax collection

 

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is set to look into the bank accounts of dead people to reach their target collection goal of ₱50 billion by 2016.

 

BIR Commissioner Kim Henares said they will take advantage of a loophole in the Bank Secrecy Law to check taxable inheritance and boost estate tax collections from about P1 billion a year to an average of ₱12.5 billion.

 

An estate tax is a tax on the right of any given deceased person to transmit wealth to heirs. It is imposed on a given heir's inherited estate or assets if the value of the estate exceeds an exclusion limit set by law.

 

Republic Act 1405 or the Philippine Law on the Secrecy of Bank Deposits meanwhile states that accounts cannot be disclosed by banks and may not be examined except upon written permission of the depositor or if the money involved is the subject of litigation. Henares explained that bank accounts owned by the deceased are not protected by the law on bank secrecy because obviously, they have passed away. Heirs of the deceased can claim to enjoy bank secrecy either because technically, they don't own the assets of their deceased relative yet.

 

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"The BIR wants everyone to become rich, so that we can collect more taxes. If you die, and you're rich, you pay more estate tax," Henares said.

 

Finance Secretary Cesar Purisma meanwhile said the low, static level of current estate tax collections contradicts rising property and stock prices.

 

Purisima also urged inheritors to amend their estate tax declaration and payments before they are caught. The government is set to investigate estate tax payments over the last five years he said.

 

BIR Kim Henares versus Manny Pacquiao and the People of the Philippines

Obviously, Kim Henares got knock down by just first round in DOJ ring fight .

 

DOJ junks tax case vs Pacquiao

 

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has junked the case filed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) against boxing champion and Sarangani Rep. Manny Pacquiao.

 

In an eight-page resolution, the DOJ called it absurd to hold Pacquiao liable for neglecting to obey a BIR subpoena which he did not receive at all.

 

The DOJ agreed with the respondent that there was no valid service of the subpoena duces tecum upon him.

 

The Justice Department said the allegation of BIR Officer, Abdul Jalil J. Taratingan, that he personally delivered the subpoena in General Santos City, received by a certain Jocelyn Nebria, is contrary to Revenue Memorandum Order No. 88-2010 which requires for a personal service to the person being summoned.

 

"It is only upon refusal of the person being summoned to receive the subpoena that a substituted service can be availed," said the DOJ.

 

The DOJ ruled that since there was no refusal on the part of Pacquiao to receive the subpoena, the BIR case is irregular and ineffectual.

 

"The service of summons is, indeed, a vital and indispensable ingredient of due process. Such denial of respondent's vital right constitutes a serious infirmity in the proceedings which led to the filing of this case against him," the DOJ said in its resolution.

 

Pacquiao's legal counsel, Atty. Abraham G. Espejo, expressed his gratitude to the DOJ.

 

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"Congressman Pacquiao is and will continue to be a law abiding Filipino citizen," said Espejo.

 

The BIR has accused Pacquiao of violating Section 266 of Republic Act 8424, otherwise known as the National Internal Revenue Code of the Philippines.

 

BIR regional director Rozil Lozares claimed that Pacquiao snubbed the bureau's summons to present his tax records to the agency. -  ANC and ABS-CBN News

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