Aside from the controversial US$330 million ZTE broadband deal, other Chinese loans to the Philippines are similarly marred by corruption and onerous loan agreements.
BY IBON FOUNDATION
Posted by Bulatlat
Vol. VII, No. 34, September 30-October 6, 2007
Aside from the controversial US$330 million ZTE broadband deal, other Chinese loans to the Philippines are similarly marred by corruption and onerous loan agreements.
In January 2007, China agreed to fund a number of infrastructure development projects of the Arroyo administration that cost more than US$1.1 billion (P49.5 billion at P45.50:$1). Four more major infrastructure projects worth at least US$1.7 billion are under negotiation. (See Table) The loan package includes the continuation of the controversial Northrail Project.
In the loan agreement of the Northrail Project, China has the sole authority to determine the payment schedule; the right to impose immediate payments even before the project begins; and it places China’s laws as the governing laws for the agreement and that the Philippine government irrevocably and unconditionally waives its immunity from any suit or judgment arising from the contract.
The loan package also includes US$1 billion in funding for the Laiban Dam Project, which, similar to the Northrail, threatens to displace thousands of indigenous peoples and upland settlers.
According to IBON, the deals signed with China should be opposed, not only because they worsen the country’s indebtedness, but also because they perpetuate the flawed neoliberal framework of economic development that has aggravated the country’s permanent crisis of maldevelopment and widespread poverty. IBON Foundation/posted by Bulatlat
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