Alejano: Duterte callous, deaf to suffering of poor Filipinos

MANILA, Philippines — The administration of President Rodrigo Duterte is callous for failing to heed the suffering of poor Filipinos under the government’s tax reform law, an opposition lawmaker said on Thursday.

Rep. Gary Alejano (Magdalo) said that instead of considering suggestions to review the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law in the past five months the Duterte administration became defensive.

He said that it could not be denied that the prices of goods and services had increased since the TRAIN law came into effect on Jan. 1, 2018.

“The Duterte administration is deaf and callous regarding the sentiments of Filipinos especially the poor who are severely affected by the TRAIN Law,” Alejano said in a statement.

According to Alejano, Republic Act 10963 or the TRAIN law has provisions that allow for continuous implementation or stoppage depending on its effects.

He added that not the whole law was being suspended but only its provisions that could burden Filipinos especially the most vulnerable.

“The TRAIN law should be revisited especially because we saw how it was railroaded in Congress and how it burdens Filipinos,” he said.

Sen. Paolo Benigno “Bam” Aquino IV on Thursday filed a bill allowing the suspension of additional petrol taxes under the TRAIN law should the three-month inflation exceed official targets.

Inflation during the month of April flicked up to 4.5 percent, which is the fastest in five years, pushing the year-to-date inflation to 4.1 percent, above the 2 to 4 percent target set by the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas.

The International Monetary Fund estimated that Philippine inflation for 2018 would be at 4.2 percent and would ease to 3.8 percent in 2019.

Rising concerns on inflation led the Banko Sentral ng Pilipinas to jack up key rates to tame rising consumer prices.

During its third policy review for the year, the BSP’s Monetary Board decided to raise the overnight reverse repurchase rate by 25 basis points from 3.0 percent.

Alejano said that the poor were impacted more negatively than the rich as vulnerable families spent much of their budget on food and beverages which were severely hit by inflation.

He said that the monthly cash transfer of P200 for 2018, P300 for 2019 and 2020 were not enough as this was not based changes in consumer prices.

“The cash transfer will not adjust even if the inflation rate skyrockets,” he said.

He also noted the failure of the government to identify the 10 million households to be given monthly financial subsidy.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian assailed the government for its failure to fully its unconditional cash transfer program despite its promise last year that it would be in full swing by Jan. 1, 2018.

The senator is also looking at increasing the amount of the monthly cash transfers, from P200 to P450 to help vulnerable families better cope with inflationary effects.

“It is obvious that the Duterte tax plan is anti-poor. The poor who are the victims of drugs from China and Duterte’s brutal war on drugs are the ones shouldering the anti-poor TRAIN law of Duterte,” he said.

“My call for the Duterte administration is to be moved by its conscience. It should not disregard the hardship being experienced by Filipinos. My question is, ‘Where is the concern promised during the campaign?’” he added.

A cause-oriented group, meanwhile, slammed the government for its TRAIN law which it said was making it difficult for mothers to make ends meet in their households.

The Alyansa ng Samahan Pangtao, a member of the Tindig Pilipinas coalition, said that mothers had suffered due to rising prices of food, electricity, fuel, rental and education-related expenses.

The group said that the P200 monthly subsidy of the government was insufficient to help mothers cope with the law’s inflationary effects as it called for meaningful social protection.