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Saturday, September 03, 2005
Editorials: No cause for celebration
* The Arroyo administration may have survived the political thrusts of the opposition, but it may yet fall if it fails to deliver on its claims about the positive effect of the imposition of the E-VAT on the country's economy
The Supreme Court ruling upholding the constitutionality of the Expanded Value-Added tax (E-VAT) may have momentarily deflected attention away from the continuing political tug-of-war, but it could open people's eyes to an overlooked reality.
With politics becoming a staple for Filipinos because of the noise of its protagonists and its entertainment-like nature, the pull of economics is often downplayed--and this even if its influence on political developments has already been proven.
The SC ruling, for example, and the subsequent imposition of higher taxes even on electricity, fuel and transportation, could heighten further the dissatisfaction that the political opposition banked on in its sputtering bid to impeach President Arroyo.
Indeed, the Arroyo administration may have survived the political thrusts of the opposition, but it may yet fall if it fails to deliver on its claims about the positive effect of the imposition of the E-VAT on the country's economy.
In this sense, the SC ruling, which immediately followed the controversial scuttling by the House justice committee of the
impeachment complaints against the President, cannot be considered fully as another triumph of the Arroyo administration.
Because the imposition of higher taxes, together with such developments as the skyrocketing price of petroleum products, will put greater burden on an administration already shaken by political storms.
And it remains to be seen whether government can carry through the burden or it will be crushed underneath it.
Hurricane devastation
Watching the coverage of the devastation brought by Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast in the United States recently, one inevitably is drawn to the reality that the face of tragedy looks the same, whether one is in a developed country or not.
Filipinos especially can connect well with the scene of flooded communities, toppled or twisted structures, displaced people, deaths, etc.--after all destructive typhoons have been our fare ever so often.
We who already know what it is like to be hit by disasters should therefore hope that the affected areas could rise sooner.
(September 3, 2005 issue)
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