MANILA -- Senate President Francis Escudero is not bothered by the government's debt stock hitting P16 trillion.

"It is within our projected debt-to-GDP ratio for the year and main reason for the increase is peso devaluation which negatively impinged on our foreign currency denominated debt, " Escudero said in a text message before he compared the Philippine figure to that of other countries.

"To compare and for reference… Malaysia -61.1 percent; Singapore - 168 percent; India - 81.5 percent; Thailand - 61.9 percent; US - 122 percent Japan - 255 percent," Escudero added.

Escudero explained that it is part of the Budget Expenditures and Sources of Financing (BESF) submission of Government that was discussed during the deliberations in committee and on the floor.

"However, it is not part of the Budget Bill. Debt and debt payment is automatically appropriated and is considered an 'off-budget' item," Escudero said.

Senate Finance Committee Chair Grace Poe separately said that for the 2025 budget, the government's economic managers have taken into account the projected debt to make sure that the country economic growth will continue to outgrow the liabilities.

"Part of the fiscal strategy committed by our economic managers is maintaining the resiliency of our debt profile, particularly by prioritizing local debts over foreign debts," she said.

"Sinisigurado nito na karamihan sa ating mga utang ay hindi naaapektuhan ng galaw ng forex. Kaya kung ating titingnan ang debt-to-GDP ratio ng Pilipinas, unti-unti na natin itong naibaba mula noong pandemic. Mula sa 60.9 percent noong 2022, bumaba pa nga ito sa 60.3 percent ngayong 2024, which is well within the internationally accepted threshold of 70%," she said.

"We are determined to continue pushing it below 60% so we have enough buffer in case another crisis hits us," Poe said.

Poe maintained that what is important is that government is able to finance both its liabilities and services.

"Ang importante ay kaya nating mabayaran ang utang natin nang hindi maaapektuhan ang serbisyo ng gobyerno, at magagamit ang perang inutang sa pagpapalago ng ating ekonomiya. Isina-prinsipyo natin ito sa pagbuo ng 2025 budget," she said.

"We made sure to leave enough fiscal space to service our debts and used the borrowed money to fund infrastructure and social development projects which will ultimately redound to our country’s economy. We also made sure to fund shovel-ready infrastructure projects for transportation, health, and technology development to boost our economy," Poe added.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III, however, said he is "very" alarmed.

"Yes very alarming! The government should present to us a plan on how to reduce the total debt not in percentages in relation to certain other numbers but a reduction in actual amount of the national debt. We must be able to prove to ourselves that we are able to bring down the actual value of the total national debt. The proposed 2025 budget is again a DEFICIT BUDGET hence actually ang 2025 budget ay dagdag utang na budget hindi bayad utang na budget," Pimentel said.

The Philippines' national debt grew to P15.89 trillion in September.