MANILA, Philippines - A fiscal crisis is looming  and first time lawmakers should be focusing on addressing the country's fiscal situation, instead of raising taxes, a former National Treasurer said on Monday.

Leonor Briones, the country's treasury chief during the short-lived administration of President Joseph Estrada, and now a professor of the University of the Philippines - National College of Public Administration, warned of a fiscal crisis in the making.

Briones said at the sidelines of a course she is conducting for new lawmakers, that there is a danger of a fiscal crisis, considering the huge expectations on the new government to beef up spending, but can hardly be supported by the continued shortfall in government revenues.

She said lawmakers and the Aquino government will have to determine what to do with what's left of the government coffers, and what their plans are for 2011.

The former treasury chief said the government will have a tough balancing act - boosting revenues without reducing expenditures.

As part of keeping the budget deficit in check, Briones urged for a review of the country's borrowings, as well as the perks given to new businesses like tax holidays.

No to new taxes

Like President Benigno Aquino III's economic managers, Briones is not keen on raising the contentious valued added tax.

"Budget is the immediate priority of the next Congress," she said, that it is the sole body that can decide on how to cut the budget deficit by boosting revenues.

The Senate for its part, she said, can match a proposal of the Lower House to cut back on the priority development assistance fund of lawmakers, often referred to as 'pork barrel.'

Congressmen get P70 million a year, while senators get P200 million each.

However, Briones said trimming the pork barrel is not the solution to the budget deficit.

Latest figures from the development budget coordinating council briefing last Friday showed the budget deficit hitting P325 billion this year.

The last time the country nearly plunged into a fiscal crisis was in 2004 -- and which forced the Arroyo administration to pass unpopular revenue measures, including the controversial value added tax.

On the new congressmen, Briones said it would be 'fun' considering the interesting mix of personalities.

She said that at the end of the day, these lawmakers will be judged on the type of legislation they pass.

Briones noted that these new lawmakers seem to be more serious about the work ahead of them, and this she said, is partly due to the interest media has shown in what kind of governance will they demonstrate.

Several of the 119 first term congressmen are celebrities, including boxing champ Manny Pacquiao, former first lady Imelda Marcos, and talk show host Lucy Torres.

"The academe feel that many lawmakers will be coming in from the cold, so they felt this seminar lecture was necessary."

Bagong Henerasyon Party-List Representative Bernadette Herrera, one of the lawmakers who attended the seminar, said the course was helpful and very practical.

Herrera said the lawmakers of the 15th Congress should work on education and the freedom of information bill as priorities.

She called on other fellow first term congressmen to attend the week-long seminar at the UP NCPAG.

The seminar teaches the new lawmakers about good governance, lawmaking, public financial management, the millennium development goals and the national budget.