Presidential Adviser on Poverty Alleviation Larry Gadon on Tuesday attributed the country’s current debt burden to the previous administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte, citing heavy borrowing practices that have allegedly led to corruption.

Gadon made the remarks following the release of data from the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr), which showed that the national government has already paid around P1.28 trillion in debt in the first six months of this year under President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

He said the Marcos administration is struggling to pay the national government debts, but that it has been trying its best to accelerate payments to ease the debt burden in the future.

“For the first six months of 2024, the Marcos administration has paid 1.28 trillion pesos of the national debt, which is 35 percent more than the same period in 2023 with a payment of 907 billion. This was due to sound fiscal management by the administration,” Gadon averred.

He emphasized that Filipinos must remember how the national debt ballooned during Duterte’s term.

“For 89 years, spanning 14 presidents from [Manuel] Quezon to [Benigno] Noynoy Aquino, the accumulated debt was only 6.6 trillion pesos. It must be highlighted that the Duterte government borrowed 7.2 trillion pesos in just six years, more than the 14 presidents and 89 years combined,” Gadon said.

“There was the pandemic, alright, and the dole-outs. But what about the hounding issues like trillions spent on anomalous procurement of Pharmally vaccines and Remdesivir, among others, which turned out overpriced?” Gadon asked.

“What about the 51 billion pesos allocated to Rep. Polong Duterte supposed to be for flood control in Davao?” he added.

Gadon also hit the previous administration’s handling of flood control projects, saying: “What about the hundreds of billions allocated for the 5,500 or so flood control projects that turned out to be a dud, that President Marcos himself relied on to report on the country’s supposed readiness for La Niña threats?”

The presidential appointee said that Marcos himself was “duped” into relying on the flood control projects done by the previous administration.