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THE Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) and other nongovernment
organizations on Tuesday asked G8 countries to cancel payments for
Philippine debts that have not benefited Filipinos, saying the
government could use the money for projects related to agriculture,
education and health.
Rebecca Malay, FDC vice president, said
Filipinos are paying for “illegal” debts as the projects they
were supposed to fund turned out to be wasteful and expensive.
“We are asking G8 to cancel these debts
because the money that they allotted for these projects are just
small amounts to them,” Malay said, adding the projects do not
even help Filipinos.
FDC also charged that G8 has not delivered any
of the promises it made in previous meetings such as to liberate the
poor countries from indebtedness, increase aid to the developing
world, come up with $20 billion for Africa and devise a solution to
climate change.
“If the G8 could not deliver on its old
promises, how can we expect it to deliver on its new ones,” FDC
said in a statement.
“The problem is that the growing poverty in
the developing world, the continuing indebtedness of the poor
countries, the oil debacle, the financial crisis, global warming and
the agricultural crisis are all largely rooted in the project of
corporate-driven globalization of which the G8 has been the main
promoter and manager, along with the G8-dominated World Bank,
International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization,” FDC
explained.
Other NGOs are urging “all peoples’
movements and organizations (labor, farmers, women, youth and
indigenous peoples), social and political movements, community and
citizens’ groups, and faith-based organizations, to challenge the
governments of G8 countries to acknowledge their responsibility for
the food and climate crises and the continuing problem and the
continuing problem of debt.
Hundreds of NGOs around the globe are also
asking G8 to take decisive action to:
Cancel all illegitimate debt, Stop financing
projects and policies that contribute to climate change, Respect the
South countries efforts to reverse harmful policies that led to the
food crisis, Ban speculation on food prices, End the practice of
using loans and debt cancellation to impose conditionalities, pay
restitution and reparations for the huge ecological debts owed to
the South, and facilitate the return of stolen assets kept in the
banks in the G8 countries.
-- Ira Karen Apanay
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