Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan said it will take 20 years for the local government of Manila to pay off the P17.8 billion debt left behind by the previous administration.
This was bared by Lacuna-Pangan when she, along with Manila Vice Mayor John Marvin "Yul Servo" Nieto, guested at the monthly "Balitaan Forum" conducted by of the Manila City Hall Reporter's Association (MACHRA) at Harbor View Restaurant in Ermita, Manila.
According to the mayor, since she assumed office in the middle of 2022, her administration has maximized the available resources and was able to pay back to the two banks an amount of P2.256 billion out of the total P17.8 billion debt.
"'Yung laki ng utang ng Maynila, di naman kayang tustusan ng pondong meron lamang kami (The amount of Manila's debt cannot be paid with the current funds we only have)," she said.
She said there were too many infrastructure projects, most of which exceeded the actual level of needs in the localities where public housing condominiums and school buildings were built.
"Napakaraming sabay-sabay ng naging infra dati kaya naapektuhan naman ang kapasidad ng lungsod na tugunan ang mga pangangailangan ngayon. Kung wala sana tayong obligasyong ganyang kalaki, mas marami sana tayong tulong na maibibigay sa mga Manileño (There was so much ongoing construction of infrastructures happening at once that affect city's capacity to meet today's needs. If we didn't have such an obligation, we would have more help to give to Manileños)," she also said.
She said every month, the city government makes sure the city is able to collect the target revenues on time. They created the Go Manila mobile application to make the payment easier for residents, especially taxpayers.
"Nahihirapan kami kasi ang kailangan ng mga tao ay social services. Naaapektuhan naman ang kapasidad ng lungsod na tugunan ang mga pangangailangan ng lungsod at Manilenyo (We are struggling because what people need are social services. The city's capacity to meet the needs of the city and Manileño is affected)... There are more important needs that should be addressed immediately and that would benefit a larger portion of the population ," she added.
She stressed that her administration is more focused on the provision of social services which will benefit more residents directly, especially the 203,000 registered senior citizens, 50,000 persons with disability (PWD) and solo parents, and 20,000 senior high students from city-run schools Universidad de Manila and Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila.
These sectors, she said, receive monthly financial assistance from the city government, which could be increased to a higher amount if only the city is not paying a huge obligation to two banks from where the P17.8 billion was loaned.
"Kung wala sana tayong obligasyong ganyang kalaki, mas marami sana tayong tulong na maibibigay sa mga Manileño, matataasan natin ang pambili ng gamot ng mga seniors man lang (If we don't have such a big obligation, we would have more help to give to Manileños, we could increase the budget for medicine of the senior citizens at least)," Lacuna-Pangan also said.