WHILE many were abuzz on President Arroyo’s eighth State of the Nation Address (Sona), Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña said he wondered what the fuzz was all about when everybody knows the “true state of the nation.”
He said prices of goods and fuel are soaring, but it would be unfair to blame the economic situation on the president.
“I’m not expecting anything. It seems people are making a big thing about it. Why, we don’t know the state of the nation? We know what our problems are,” he said.
The mayor also said that it is unfair for detractors to say that what Arroyo said during the Sona were lies, saying it would be a “gross exaggeration.”
“The president is doing her job, but we cannot really expect her to fulfill every promise made. The problem we have today is the same problem the whole world is facing.
It’s not only in the Philippines,” he said.
He said political groups simply project themselves in criticizing the president but do not really have something to offer.
Rep. Antonio Cuenco (Cebu City, south) said the President’s speech yesterday was “realistic, down-to-earth and inspiring.”
Deputy House Speaker Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north) praised Arroyo for being firm on her stand on the E-VAT (Expanded Value Added Tax), despite the unpopular ratings it gave her.
Del Mar said the E-VAT Law was a very unpopular measure implemented by the administration, but it is the right thing to do.
He agreed with the President that if the E-VAT is removed, the economy will suffer and the peso will weaken, resulting in more expensive commodities.
“This is a very unpopular measure and she knows that she is paying for it. But to pursue it no matter how unpopular shows she is going for what is the correct thing to do,” he told Sun.Star Cebu.
Del Mar described yesterday’s State of the Nation Address as a “factual narration of accomplishments vis-a-vis the promises she made in the previous address.”
With figures supporting her accomplishments, Arroyo’s report was easily verifiable, he said.
“I welcome her commitment to fight graft and corruption. No administration has made such big funding support for evidence gathering against graft for the Ombudsman. A funding of P3 billion is clearly a very firm commitment against graft,” del Mar added.
The Confederation of Philippine Exporters (Philexport)-Cebu, meanwhile, said the VAT on fuel can help stimulate the country’s economy, provided that it is used for programs such as building and improving infrastructure such as transportation.
The export industry will eventually benefit from these infrastructures, said Philexport-Cebu executive director Fred Escalona.
Using VAT on oil unjustly, he said, will only worsen the present economic situation of the country.
Cebuano businessman Carlito Fruelda, president of ACF Logistics Worldwide, Inc., considers the E-VAT Law as a “well thought-of” law and that modifying or removing it will only move the country backwards.
“For the business people, it is an input-output thing,” Fruelda told Sun Star Cebu in a phone interview.
Fruelda said his only concern is that money earned by government should be applied properly and that there is a “very big room” for the government to improve its pro-poor programs.
On the other hand, Jay Aldeguer, president of the Philippine Retailers’ Association in Cebu believes it will put too much strain on the government’s income if E-VAT is removed.
He said retailers do not “carelessly pass on” E-VAT to the consumers since the sellers have to absorb a part of it to be able to come up with competitive prices.
“The dictate of the consumers is very strong when it comes to pricing,” he added.
Mobile phone service providers, meanwhile, confirmed they lowered the cost of text message from one network to another to 50 centavos.
In separate notices published in national papers, Globe, Smart and Sun Cellular said the low-cost text offer is in response to President Arroyo’s call to “lower communication costs for the benefit of the public.”
Arroyo mentioned the lowered text rates in her Sona yesterday.
The low-cost text offer for Smart and Globe started yesterday and will run until Oct. 22. Sun, on the other hand, will allow the offer to run until Oct. 27.
The mobile service providers declined to make further comments about the cost reduction. (RHM/LCR/NRC/DME/LAP)
