AN administration lawmaker yesterday assailed former agriculture secretary Manny Piñol for criticizing the Marcos administration over the country’s P16.63-trillion national debt, reminding him that it was under the administration of his boss, former President Rodrigo Duterte, that the government incurred a whopping P7.2-trillion debt.
Zambales Rep. Jefferson Khonghun said Piñol, who made the remarks during a campaign sortie in North Cotabato where he is seeking to return as governor, committed “brazen hypocrisy” and engaged in “a desperate ploy to rewrite history while campaigning for his political comeback.”
“Let’s set the record straight: It was under your boss, former President Rodrigo Roa Duterte, when our country’s debt truly ballooned — with P7.2 trillion added in just six years. That’s more than the combined total debt of all Philippine presidents from Manual Quezon to Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III over 89 years amounting to only P6.6 trillion. If there’s a ‘death burden,’ it was the one the Duterte administration created,” he said.
Piñol has also said the Marcos administration’s programs, especially the aid distribution to the poor or “ayuda,” is being used by certain politicians to stay in power.
Khonghun said, “The truth is simple: the current government is paying for the sins of the past. The ones who bloated the debt are now acting like saints. It’s shameless.”
Iloilo Rep. Janette Garin earlier called for a congressional inquiry into the P7.2-trillion debt, saying unchecked borrowing during the pandemic years severely reduced the country’s fiscal space.
Khonghun pointed out that the Marcos administration “inherited a fiscal landscape already strained by Duterte-era loans, many of which were granted blanket approval under the guise of pandemic response but with little congressional scrutiny or transparency.”
“We in Congress are now pushing for reforms to make sure future administrations don’t recklessly mortgage our nation’s future the way it was done under Duterte,” he said. “That includes investigating how the P7.2 trillion in loans was used, and whether the Filipino people truly benefited from that borrowed money.”
Khonghun said Piñol’s attempt to weaponize the national debt against the Marcos administration is “laughably audacious,” given his “controversial” tenure in the government.
“He (Piñol) presided over rice crises, proposed legalizing smuggling, bungled the bird flu outbreak, and was linked to questionable behavior in the Recto Bank incident. And now he wants to lecture us on responsible governance,” he said. “Before pointing fingers, look in the mirror. You resigned in disgrace. And you still owe the Filipino people answers, not lectures.”
Khonghun was referring to a June 2019 issue against Piñol who was then being accused of intimidating Filipino fishermen into changing their claim that their boat, F/B Gem-Ver, was rammed by a Chinese in the West Philippine Sea.
A former journalist and agriculturist, Piñol developed a friendship with then Davao City Mayor Duterte when he entered politics in 1995 after being elected mayor of M’lang, Cotabato and later as governor of Cotabato three years later.
Piñol became one of the first Cabinet members appointed by Duterte, serving as agriculture secretary until he opposed the passage of the Rice Tariffication Law, which, he said, would not only result in an increase in rice prices but also work to the detriment of rice farmers.
