|
SAN
FERNANDO, La Union—President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on
Tuesday ordered that P4 billion of the P18 billion in
proceeds from the value-added tax (VAT) on oil this year
be set aside for cash subsidies to poor families, loan
funds for the “green” conversion of public-utility
vehicles and for scholarship assistance.
Mrs.
Arroyo gave the directive during her regional Cabinet
meeting here in response to moves by lawmakers to scrap
the VAT on oil and electricity.
“We plan
to give [the oil VAT proceeds] back to the people,”
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said in an interview after
the meeting.
Bunye
said P2 billion of the P4 billion will be allotted for
conditional cash transfers, P500,000 each for student
loans and scholarships, and P1 billion for loans to
public-utility operators who wish to adopt liquefied
petroleum gas, or compressed natural gas as fuel for
their fleet.
Bunye
said the executive would later discuss how the rest of
the money will be used.
In her
opening statement at the Cabinet meeting, which focused
on high oil prices and preparations for the new school
year, the President said “urgent actions” have to be
undertaken to stave off the rise in oil prices.
“The
high price of gasoline and everyday commodities hits our
poor the hardest. While the high price of oil is a
global issue outside the control of the government, we
have, nevertheless, taken and will continue to take
actions to reduce the pain on our people of these high
prices,” the President said.
Aside
from cutting oil tariffs, she ordered the provision of
cash payments to the poorest of the poor and would be
introducing to Congress a Consumer Bill of Rights to
protect the people from price gouging, false advertising
and other scams.
“In
addition, we are accelerating infrastructure, energy and
transport projects to reduce the costs of consumers and
companies, while generating more employment and
investment. Implementing agencies are now being pressed
to fast-track these undertakings,” the President said.
In an
interview on the sidelines of the Cabinet meeting,
Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr. said it is best to
“see the whole package” because, while the proposed
removal of VAT on oil and electricity “sounds good now”
its long-term effects would cause more harm than good.
“Budgeting and expenditures happen every year so if you
remove that now, how will you answer for the added
expenditures that you would naturally need next year and
the coming years? Maybe you can say it can be done this
year but, in the long run, it will be a bigger problem.
In taxation, once you remove it, you cannot restore it,”
Andaya said.
During
the Cabinet meeting, the President also ordered the
activation of the Presidential Task Force on Energy
chaired by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita, with
Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes as vice chairman and chief
operating officer.
“The
task force is expected to come up with a contingency
plan which will take care of both short-term,
medium-term and long-term measures and ensure that it
is properly implemented,” Reyes said, adding the task
force was given two weeks to update the plan.
The
short-term proposals, he said, would be to provide
safety nets for the most vulnerable sector, the
transport sector, which imports 70 percent of the
country’s fuel needs.
Reyes
said the President directed the inclusion of additional
members to the task force, among them, the National
Economic and Development Authority, the Department of
Social Welfare and Development, the Commission on Higher
Education, the Department of Budget and Management,
Philippine Information Authority and the Department of
Science and Technology.
The task
force members are the Department of Trade and Industry,
the Department of Agriculture, Department of National
Defense, the Department of the Interior and Local
Government, the Department of Transportation and
Communications, the Department of Foreign Affairs and
the National Security Council. |
