Senator Ronald 'Bato' Dela Rosa on Tuesday urged Filipinos to not panic about the Department of Finance's (DOF) projection that the country's national debt will balloon to ₱15.8 trillion by the end of 2024.
"Don't panic, mga Pilipino. Utang lang 'yan. Kayang-kaya iyan," he said during the hearing of the Senate Finance Committee which discussed the 2024 National Expenditure Program (NEP) or national budget that contains ₱5.768 trillion.
Dela Rosa then reacted to what he regarded as a "fake news" that Filipinos are pitful because their future children will be the ones paying the large amount of debt.
"Mas maganda siguro na mag-anak tayo ng maraming anak kasi para lumaki yung population natin at kapag lumaki ang population, mas maraming maghahati-hati sa utang, mas bababa yung per capita na utang natin," he suggested.
"Simpleng pinobre ba na pag-iisip, manganak kayo ng mas marami para yung per capita natin ay bababa. The bigger the population, mas maraming maghahati-hati sa utang," the Senator added.
Dela Rosa made the reactions after DOF Secretary Benjamin Diokno explained that the public should not be worried by the government's debt because the 2024 national budget is pro-poor.
"The way to look at the impact of the budget on any individual is magkano ba ang budget na binabayad kong buwis at magkano ba ang bine-benefit ko sa budget na ito?" he said.
Diokno added that while poor families are not paying hefty taxes, they are receiving many benefits such as free education, free health care services, and free social protection measures.
"That's the way we should look at the budget. Magkano yung binabayad kong buwis at magkano ang benefit ko dito sa budget na ito. Sa palagay ko, kapag tinignan natin nang gano'n, makikinabang ang maraming Filipino," the DOF Secretary furthered.
As of June 30, the country's outstanding debt hit ₱14.15 trillion which was ₱51.31 billion or 0.4 percent higher than the record in May 2023 of ₱14.1 trillion.
