The Youth Against Debt (YAD) has criticized the senatorial candidates for allegedly snubbing its electoral study on the proximity of candidate’s platforms on the youth’s outlook on debt, the budget, and education.
“Of more than thirty candidates, only Genuine Opposition (GO) Senatoriables Loren Legarda and Koko Pimentel answered,†said Bianca Lapuz, YAD Spokesperson.
The youth group expressed their disappointment over the senatoriables’ lack of response to the questionnaires mailed to them even after three months of waiting and asking for updates.
Lapuz also lamented the failure of the candidates to address in their campaign platforms the issues of debt, education, and the national budget. “This just shows how much senatoriables can go without even touching issues as fundamental as whether to prioritize education more than debt payments,†Lapuz said.
“In fact, it is quite saddening to note that only Pimentel and Legarda explicitly took a stand against paying huge amounts of our taxpayers’ money for illegitimate debtsâ€, Lapuz furthered.
The youth group especially lauded Pimentel for taking a sharp line for the repeal of Presidential Decree 1177 which provides for the automatic appropriation for debt servicing.
Lapuz challenged Pimentel and Legarda to continue pressing on the issue of debt even after the elections, and called on the rest of the youth to use their vote to advocate social and economic reform. “The youth, as the society’s stakeholders, must not be passive in calling for change,†Lapuz concluded.
YAD is a nationwide alliance of youth organizations advocating for the prioritization of education over debt service in the national budget.
