(1st of two parts)
WE ARE about to end the year and here’s a broad perspective from your letter writer from the boondocks of Mindanao. This is strictly personal and I will not begrudge anyone from flagellating me should they disagree.
After all, contrary to the martyr of the western press, Maria Ressa, anywhere in the country ... and I mean Philippines, you can browbeat even the President, lie about death statistics and attribute it to extra-judicial killings and you can fly to New York and get a prestigious award as among the persons of the year.
Yet more than that, you can come home free as a bird because, unlike in the United States where tax evaders are jailed, fined or both, in the Philippines it will take a President to warn you to settle your tax obligations or else.
Hah, on a personal note, once in the past, because of my passionate support for Mayor Digong Duterte, his political adversary ordered the Regional BIR office to examine my tax returns.
I was summoned to appear for investigation. I asked the assistant regional director (ARD) of the BIR to be present while the revenue examiner did his task as ordered by the politician. On record, I paid a total of P32,000. The good ARD then ordered the examiner to get the copy of the ITR of the owner of the biggest mall in Davao City then. It turned out I paid more taxes than the bloke. That is clear harassment. Add to that the libel cases but all those never gagged me from writing the truth.
But President Rodrigo Duterte is not keen to give Ma. Ressa a stern warning like what he did with Lucio Tan, Manny Pangilinan, and Mighty Corporation for tax evasion. But I really admire Ressa for tweaking her tax dues into a threat of her press freedom and then ran away with a coveted award.
The good thing is that MC settled its case for P30 billion, Tan for P7 billion and Pangilinan peed on his pants and hurriedly returned the Cure (telecom) frequencies for free when Duterte promised to send BIR examiners the morning after his warning if Manny continue with his demand that government should refund him P3 billion for the spectrums. As Finance Sec. Sonny Dominguez would put it, “nobody messes up with his top tax collector – President Duterte.”
The other good thing is that the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion was passed. This should bring in more revenues for the government BUILD BUILD BUILD program and ease the tax burden of 85 percent of wage earners. The bad thing was that with so much extra money to spend, those who benefited from it started buying more than they did before and we have a situation where more than P140 billion are in circulation. I do not know the ABC of economy but my hunch is that prices of prime commodities increased for lack of supply especially rice.
Sonny did his homework but Sec. Manny Piñol and the National Food Authority (or whoever was in-charged of it) cannot command typhoons to stop flooding rice fields while nobody in the NFA was minding the dwindling supplies of rice. Worse, some rice traders were hoarding rice and up to this time had eluded the law with their shenanigans. Add to that the runaway prices of gas and we are mired in a condition where the purchasing power of the poor which had increased was taken over by inflation. Aye there’s the rub.
BUILD BUILD BUILD has to be pursued and good that the President as well as his economic team are not badgered by threats of strikes and destabilization. In time the market was flooded with rice while fuel and oil crashed from a high of $86 per barrel to just a little above $50. The bad thing is that manufacturers of canned goods were as silent as they were so demanding for price adjustment before. The same is true with electric and water utilities in Metro Manila who, at the nudge of a dollar cent, would automatically adjust water rates. And because it is December and the Christmas bells are jingling, MWSS justified the rate increase without even being asked.
The other good thing is the visit of China Pres. Xi Jinping which was highlighted with the signing of scores of Memo Agreements and commitments. President XI also brought a gift of two bridges that would cross the Pasig River. Of course the banks of China are now opened to extend dollar or Renminbi at very cheap rates. But my barber asked me an intriguing question. “The Philippine banks and other financial institutions are awash with cash, so why not borrow from local funds.”
Makes sense. Come to think of it, when you borrow Philippine Peso currency this is not subject to currency adjustment. So eureka, why not indeed!