By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
Variety News Staff

DEMOCRATIC senators yesterday urged the Camacho administration to abandon its borrowing plans and focus on exploring other options to raise revenues to settle its obligations.
Sens. Judith Guthertz, D-Mangilao, and Ben Pangelinan, D-Barrigada, also reiterated their call for the administration to come up with a more realistic budget plan.
“Borrowing money and going deeper in debt is not a good solution. For the last four years, borrowing has been the governor’s primary initiative to deal with government financial issues,” Guthertz said.
“It’s unfortunate that the governor put all the eggs in one basket. Now the government has to deal with a dilemma as a result of the Supreme Court’s decision,” she added, referring to the nation’s highest court decision curtailing the government of Guam’s borrowing capability.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that GovGuam cannot enter into long-term borrowing. (See top story).
The court’s decision prompted Pangelinan yesterday to introduce a bill repealing all existing laws that authorize bond borrowing.
 Among the laws that Bill 79 seeks to repeal  include the two related bond borrowing measures that authorize the government to borrow $218 million from the bond market, which was the subject of the U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Pangelinan’s bill also seeks to repeal a portion of Public Law 28-149 that authorizes GovGuam to borrow $43 million to refinance its 1993 general bond obligation and provide funds for the Guam Public School System’s capital improvement projects.
In filing the bill, Pangelinan said the conditions that precipitated the authorization to issue public debt via bonds in previous legislatures have changed.  Such changes, he added, warrants a reexamination of the policy of issuing general obligation bonds.
 “In light of our current financial condition, it is only prudent that any future issuance of public debt be subject to new legislation that is in concert with the current financial realities,” Pangelinan said.
 Guthertz, meanwhile, slammed Gov. Felix P. Camacho for not using his authority to raise service fees.
  “He can raise the drivers’ license fees, ambulance fees and special police services fees. He can lift tax exemptions. He can do these things within his authority. They don’t require legislative action, but I’m surprised he’s not doing anything,” Guthertz said.