Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III on Sunday, November 10 urged state economic managers to exercise fiscal discipline in light of the government's ballooning debt which now stands at P15 trillion.

Pimentel expressed his concern in a radio interview as he reiterated his call for the government to fully scrutinize the country's external debts to avoid possible long-term financial risks.

During the start of the Senate's deliberation into the P6.352 trillion national budget for 2025, Pimentel emphasized the need for economic managers to exercise financial discipline to avoid wasting public funds.

“Yung utang natin lumalaki ng lumalaki pero ung economic managers natin parang di sila worried sa utang (Our debt is ballooning but I don't think our economic managers are worried over our debts)," Pimentel said.

"Eh ako worried ako sa utang kasi nakikita ko ung number, yung binabayaran natin kada taon, palaki na rin ng palaki sa principal at saka interes (But I am worried because I see the number, the amount every year is getting higher and higher, both the principal and interest rates),” he pointed out.

“Nakakatakot para sa akin kasi kada piso, o let say kada P100 na kita ng gobyerno, siguro P15 to P20 ang binabayad natin sa utang (It's worrisome for me because for every peso, or let's say for each P100 earned by the government, approximately P15 to P20 goes to debt payment)," he lamented.

"Baka dapat bigyan din natin ito ng pansin kasi binabalewala natin sasabihin na kayang kaya naman bayaran, baka lumaki ng lumaki over the years. Sa revenue ng gobyerno lalaki ang porsyento na binabayad sa utang imbes na itulong sa tao yun, aaalis un eh (We ought to address this because we neglect the matter by just saying we can afford to pay it, but it may just increase yearly. A huge portion of government revenue would just go to debt servicing instead of using the funds to help more people)," he pointed out.

"Hindi na maitulong sa tao, pinambabayad na sa creditors natin, (Instead of helping more people, we use public funds to just pay our creditors," he further stressed.

Based on the records of the Bureau of Treasury, the Philippines' national debt has reached P15.69 trillion last July of 2024.

Pimentel noted that the increase of debt, comes vis-a-vis with the increase of the country's budget deficit.

A budget deficit occurs when the government spends more money than it receives in revenue over a specific period of time and is usually the term used to describe the financial health of a country. 

Among the causes of a budget deficit is low GDP (gross domestic proper), improper tax collection system, overspending on other programs, high spending on subsidies, and others such as improper allocation of funds.

In order not to worsen the country's budget deficit, Pimentel urged the government's economic managers to have a little fiscal discipline.

“Ang ano rin kasi, kaya napapautang kasi nga ang budget deficit natin. Every year kasi gusto natin gumastos ng mas malaki kesa sa kinikita natin, kailangan siguro a little budgetary discipline o fiscal discipline na tanggalin na natin ang mga gastusin na aksaya lang o nakakaaksaya lang (The reason we ask for loan is precisely because of our budget deficit. We spend every year because we want to spend more than what we earn. Maybe we need a little budgetary discipline or fiscal discipline to eliminate wasteful or wasteful expenses),” said Pimentel.

“Kaya nga budget dapat talaga himayin yan at mas maganda nga sana kung involved na ang taumbayan, nakikialam sila, tinitignan nila (That's why the budget should really be scrutinized thoroughly and it would be better if the people are involved, they intervene, and they look at it)," he said.