A visit from a ghost

Every year for the past many years, the Bureau of Internal Revenue, Bureau of Customs, and other revenue-collecting agencies of the government have fallen short of their revenue targets. Instead of taking the logical step of increasing tax revenues through the eradication of corruption, or through streamlined tax collection techniques, the policymakers adopt the harder, and terribly unpopular, way. They opt for new taxes.

The policymakers' assumption is that the new taxes will bridge the tax shortfall and revenue gap. What they do not realize is that the new taxes are going to breed further inefficiency and stifle initiative. If the policymakers did their research job more thoroughly, they will find out that Philippines has the most number of taxes, and also the highest production cost due to taxation.

It is the continuous imposition of tax burdens that has discouraged investors from pumping in their money into economic ventures in our country. They have instead opted to go to other neighboring countries where the investment climate is more pleasant and stable.

She looked like a ghost, this emaciated woman who came to see me, and waited for me for half a day, at my office last March 15. Her body was made up of mere skin and bones, with hardly any flesh at all. Apparently, she was malnourished, and she coughed as though she has had tuberculosis for the past several years.

I had initially decided to turn her away, thinking that she was just one of the many "professional" beggars who go from office to office, seeking for doleouts. She carried a sheaf of doctor's prescriptions that she handed over to me. "Why don't you go to the PCSO and ask for its help?" I told her.

When she asked where the PCSO was, I realized she was not a professional beggar. I then thought twice about letting this apparently illiterate woman go, without her getting any help at all from the Good Samaritan Foundation. It would be added cruelty to send her to a place where she would just be thrown around like a football, I told myself.

I then began throwing questions at this 51-year-old woman with the reed-like body, and her answers were touching. Her husband, who used to drive for a hardware company, had a stroke that paralyzed him two years ago. They are from a distressed place in Leyte, and they left their hometown many years ago, thinking that they could find their pot of gold in the asphalt jungle.

Edilberto and Felipa Rosal have six children, the eldest of whom is Raul, 19 years old, who works as a janitor in a carinderia, with a daily wage of P100. They also have a younger daughter Irene, who toils as an "extra" fabric trimmer in a small garments factory, with a daily salary of P98. Only Raul and Irene, with their total daily income of P198, are the breadwinners in the eight-member Rosal family.

How this family of eight, living in a resettlement area for squatters at Kalookan City, can survive with P198 a day is hard to explain. And to think that their four other children, aged 15 years and below, are all going to school makes their plight even more puzzling, What do they eat? How much baon does each child have? Yes, how does this terribly poor family struggle to survive?

Probably, their poverty is the major reason why the emaciated woman named Felipa looked like a ghost. And almost certainly, all of her other children -- Ivy, Roland, Imee and Rowell -- must have bodies that are mere skin and bones, tragic victims of malnutrition.

Let me now tell you why the woman came to my office last Wednesday. A few days ago, her 15-year-old son Rowell had to be rushed to the Jose Reyes Memorial Medical Center at Avenida Rizal in Manila when his appendix burst. Strangely, the government hospital turned Rowell away, on the pretext that there was no space available for the boy.

Since Rowell was in great pain, and there was no time to bring Rowell to another government hospital like the Philippine General Hospital, his mother had to rush him to the emergency room of nearby UST Hospital. There, the doctors worked to save Rowell's life, performing surgery on the boy's acute ruptured appendix. Rowell survived the ordeal, but his poor family then faced a crisis, one that millions of Filipino families from the poorest of the poor face day by day.

Of course, medicines were used for Rowell's surgery. And the medicines came from the pharmacy of the hospital. Rowell's mother said that unless payment was made for the medicines, the boy could not be discharged from the hospital. Felipa pleaded with me to please help bring Rowell out of the hospital.

I asked my staff to compute the amount that must be paid. A little over P9,000, it turned out. I then told Felipa to return the following day to get the money from the Good Samaritan Foundation. As she walked away through the parking lot, I thought that her reed-like body would be blown away by the wind. As the ghost disappeared from my view, I uttered a prayer that other countless impoverished families, faced with the same tragic plight as hers, would be able to weather the storms that often come their way.

Let me thank the following kindhearted souls who have helped me lend a helping hand to our less fortunate fellowmen, through their generous donations to the Good Samaritan Foundation:

* LUIGI of Dumaguete City, P2,000.00 (Metrobank 1100018028)

* JNV of a multinational corporation, P5,000 (PNB 0018017)

* Ms. A.R. who used to work with a big airline company, P500

* CARMELA of Calamba, Laguna, P1,000 (BPI Family Bank 0013580)

Here are excerpts from letters I received during the past several days:

JENSEN C. KUA, Malibay, Pasay City: "Who are people acting too emotionally on the PSE problem? Why are Almadro and his staff overreacting to the problem? and why is President Estrada accusing Perfecto Yasay of economic sabotage? Didn't Yasay consult others on his stop-trading order?"

ZARAH S. CASTRO, , San Juan, Metro Manila: "I'd appreciate your help in finding out what groups to contact, who are involved with causes for the handicapped, especially regarding accessibility, mobility and livelihood issues. I wish to be involved in the effort to fully integrate the handicapped in the mainstream society. Being handicapped myself, I have first-hand experience on the difficulties in going about Metro Manila via the public transport system, especially if you can't ride buses."

HONEY LIBAO: "God's Special Children Inc. has begun preparing for Pedya-Kamp 2000 which will be held in General Santos City from April 26 to May 5. Volunteers have been attending training workshops every Sunday at the Makati Medical Center, since February 2. As part of our training program, we have invited special children to participate in Pedyalympics on March 26 in La Salle Greenhills. That way, our new volunteers will apply what they have learned about taking care of these children and facilitating activities for them."

Art A. Borjal's e-mail address: