Despite strong Palace opposition, members of the House of Representatives minority bloc on Wednesday challenged the leadership of the lower chamber to pass the tax-reform measure, saying Congress can override President Aquino’s decision against the proposal if it musters the necessary two-thirds vote of each house.
At a news conference, Party-list Rep. Silvestre Bello III of 1-BAP said the lower chamber’s leadership should fight for the passage of income tax-reform bill for the benefit of the Filipino workers.
According to Bello President Aquino will be answerable to the Filipino people should be continue his unpopular stance on the proposal.
“Congress should show its sincerity by passing this bill on the lowering of income-tax rates. Even assuming that the President has already manifested his opposition to this proposal. Let the President vetoes it and we can get back by overriding him if we are sincere here in Congress,” Bello said.
“We have to show our teeth. We are becoming the rubber stamp of the Office of the President. Nagiging [Palace] extension office na tayo. We have to show him that we are the voice of the people. And voice of the people is very clear, ayaw nila ng mataas na buwis. So I think Congress should show its sincerity and it conviction and come up with that bill,” he added.
On Tuesday Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. admitted that the measure seeking to adjust the levels of taxable income to inflation is now considered dead in the House of Representatives due to lack of time.
But Party-list Rep. Neri J. Colmenares of Bayan Muna, also author of the tax reform, said that there is still sufficient time for the passage of the lower income-tax bill.
“We have sessions until December 15. I think that the TWG [technical working group] report was already scheduled to be reported out of the Ways and Means Committee so if the House leadership wants to pass it, then it can easily be tackled and passed by the plenary in December,” he said. “We, as representatives of the people, should not be hindered by the view of President Aquino and instead listen to the demands of our constituents. The executive is a co-equal branch of Congress. It has no power to order us what to pass and not to pass,” Colmenares added.
House Independent Bloc Leader and Lakas Rep. Martin Romualdez of Leyte, for his part, said that Congress should heed the strong people’s clamor to pass the tax- reform proposal.
“This move would show that Congress is a co-equal branch and not Malacañang’s rubber stamp,” Romualdez said.
Meanwhile, Majority Leader and Liberal Party Rep. Neptali M. Gonzales II of Mandaluyong City said the measure should be passed first at the committee level.
“It’s very easy to say that any bill has been voted by the President can be overridden by Congress. It’s easier said than done, In my experience as member of the House wala pang na veto ang president na na-override ng Congress because it will require two-thirds vote of the members of both houses and we’re not even confident to have a quorum every day,” he said.
“There’s also political consideration here. Would a member of the House place the President in a very awkward position?” he said.
Mr. Aquino, taking the cue from Department of Finance and Bureau of Internal Revenue, has repeatedly rejected the passage in Congress of a long-pending bill mandating adjustments in individual and corporate income-tax rates, saying, the government “cannot put our fiscal sustainability and credit rating at risk by doing piecemeal revenue-reducing legislation.”
The Department of Finance has said the proposal may cause the government to lose revenues totaling as much as 1.5 percent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) or P30 billion.
Mr. Aquino said he is still not backing income-tax reforms until there is no compensating revenue measure on the table.