MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Grace Poe on Thursday slammed the government for its failure to roll out mitigating measures under the government's tax reform program and its hypothetical P10,000 income for a family of five.
Poe likened slow implementation of cash transfer programs and discounts for vulnerable sectors under the Tax Reform for Inclusion and Acceleration law with the sluggish improvements in the Metro Rail Transit-3 which has been plagued by technical issues and bad performance for years now.
"What's happening is instead of TRAIN it has become MRT. The roll-out of help has been slow, [just like] MRT, right?" Poe said in an interview with RMN Cebu.
Poe and Sen. Paolo Benigno "Bam" Aquino have both urged the government to hasten the implementation of aid programs for the poor under the TRAIN law as the country registered last month the highest inflation rate in the last five years at 4.6 percent.
These measures under the law include unconditional cash transfer to poor households, fuel vouchers for jeepney drivers, fare discounts for commuters, subsidized rice, free skills training for minimum wage earners, the unemployed and the poorest 50 percent of the population.
"The help they should be extending, P24 billion should be given to the poorest Filipinos and was included in the budget, should have been given by January. But they have not been able to give this because until now they have no clear guidelines yet," she said.
Sen. Nancy Binay, meanwhile, is seeking a Senate inquiry into the status of the implementation of the social protection programs under the TRAIN law as she warned that further delays could result in the widening of the poverty gap and a situation in which the government wouldn't be able to mitigate the law's impact anymore.
"We need to know how effective the government is in implementing these measures because these were put in place specifically to mitigate the impact of TRAIN," Binay said.
Both Aquino and Poe also hit the government for its hypothetical budget of P10,000 for a family of five.
According to Poe, this estimate was based on data 15 years ago, and only an economist "living under a rock" would believe that a family of five could live decently with P334 a day.
"That amount will perhaps be enough if the family will go on a forced diet, live off the grid in a lean-to, forego schooling, among other deprivations," she said as she challenged government officials to prove their point by living on a monthly budget of P10,000.
Aquino, meanwhile, said that the estimate was meant to justify the government's TRAIN law, which it said was needed to fund its ambitious infrastructure and social services program.
"Many people are already drowning in high prices. Let's not delude the Filipino people. Let's stop making excuses and help suffering families," he said.
The National Economic Development Authority on Wednesday was put in a defensive mode after it was criticized for using P10,000 as a model budget for a family of five to demonstrate inflation's impact.
“During the June 5 press briefing on the May 2018 inflation report, NEDA showed how a hypothetical monthly budget of Php10,000 will be affected by a 4.6-percent inflation rate,” NEDA said in a statement.
This is not the first time that the government was criticized for insensitive statements.
Just recently, Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno was slammed for calling Filipinos "crybabies" for complaining about rising prices of goods and services.