Govt. debts now at P12.68-T

THE PHILIPPINES’ debts has reached P12.68 trillion as of March, up by 4.8% or P586.29 billion higher than the P12.09 trillion recorded in February, according to the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr).

BBM fails to pay P203-B in taxes!

‘Marcos spokesman says issue just politics’

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE Bongbong Marcos has ignored government demands to pay some P203 billion in outstanding estate taxes despite many attempts by the Bureau of Internal Revenue to collect from the son of former Dictator Ferdinand Marcos and their estate administrators.

New Cebu shipping firm gets tax incentives

THE FISCAL Incentives Review Board (FIRB) has approved the tax incentives for the operations of the proposed P1.5-billion Cebu City-based shipping vessel, specializing in roll-on roll-off (RoRo) passenger and cargo operations. 

Duterte retains fuel taxes, to give P200 a month to poor families

PRESIDENT DUTERTE has rejected proposals to suspend fuel excise taxes, but approved a P200 a month cash aid to poor families amid the soaring prices of petroleum products due to the Russo-Ukrainian war.

Local economy is collateral damage in Russo-Ukrainian war: DOF

WHILE THE Philippines remains neutral in the Russo-Ukrainian war, the country’s economy will likely be collateral damage from the conflict, according to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.

Philippines’ debts now at over P10 trillion. Where’s the money?

FORMER NATIONAL Police chief and now Senator Panfilo Lacson scored the Duterte government’s penchant for borrowing, but not always with the corresponding results.

Duterte to get more loans

THE PHILIPPINES continues to sink in debts the government trumpeted fresh loans running into billions of pesos to fund the purchases of anti-Covid vaccines and other responses to the pandemic.

Arroyo may be charged for signing ‘modified’ 2019 budget

HOUSE SPEAKER Gloria Arroyo may be charged with “falsification of records of legislative process: after she signed the House of Representatives' version of the 2019 national budget containing amendments that were made after ratification, Senator Panfilo Lacson said.

Lacson said Arroyo signed the House version of the budget bill that was different from the bicameral conference committee report that both chambers of Congress had ratified.

He said Arroyo's act is tantamount to falsification of the records of the legislative process. "Since SGMA already signed the (House) version of the enrolled bill, she’s already prone to being charged with falsification because she’s already certified something that did not take place. Sine-certify mo ito approved sa plenaryo. The act of signing a falsified document is already consummated. So any taxpayer can go to the Ombudsman or DOJ (Department of Justice) to file a criminal complaint against her for falsification," Lacson said.

Lacson warned Senate President Vicente Sotto III against signing the modified version of the budget measure as it violates the Constitution. "We will not also allow our SP (Senate President) to be exposed to possible criminal charges or criminal investigation later on. Ang House, huwag nila kami pilitin mag-violate ng Constitution)," he said.

Sotto earlier said he will not sign an enrolled copy of the budget bill for the President’s signature if the lower chamber insists on its post-bicam amendments. The proposed 2019 budget containing House amendments was already transmitted to the Senate for Sotto's signature.

Both signatures of the Speaker and the Senate President are needed before the measure can be transmitted to Malacañang for the President's signature.

Congressional leaders had met with President Rodrigo Duterte to resolve the ongoing budget impasse, but no consensus has been reached. Lacson said his suggestion to revert to the ratified version of the 2019 budget was endorsed to the President by Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez.

House Majority Leader Fredenil Castro, however, said House appropriations committee chairman Rolando Andaya Jr. had reservations in retaining the bicam version of the budget bill with lump sum appropriations as this would be unconstitutional. (Filane Mikee Cervantes)

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Raise tobacco tax even higher, DOF urges Congress

THE DEPARTMENT of Finance (DOF) said it will strongly convince Congress to impose new "sin" tax rates on tobacco products that will make cigarettes pricey enough to further discourage smoking, especially among teenagers.

 

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said that increasing the current tobacco excise tax rates to levels that would effectively curb smoking, particularly among the youth, would also help supplement funds for the Universal Health Care program, especially for the treatment of smoking-related diseases.

 

“There's still the Senate. We will try our best. This thing doesn't end until the President signs it. We're there, we're keeping at it. We hope that they will come up to what is good for the country,” he said.

 

Dominguez’s statement was in reaction to the approval by the House Committee on Ways and Means on November 27 of a consolidated bill that increased tobacco excise tax rates to levels that did not go far enough to what the Department of Health and anti-tobacco and health advocates have recommended.

 

The House-approved bill aims to raise the current tax of P35 per pack of cigarettes to P37.50 beginning July 2019. The bill also calls for another increase to P40 in July 2020, P42.50 in July 2021, and P45 in July 2022. Thereafter, the rate shall be raised four percent every July annually.

 

The DOF proposal supports the position of Rep. Angelina Tan to raise the tobacco excise tax to P60 per pack in 2019 and increasing it by nine percent annually thereafter. “The society has to agree what is more important: enough money for healthcare or favoring companies that produce products that damage health? That's what society has to agree on, and that's what the representatives in the legislature are supposed to reflect,” Dominguez said.

 

Citing the testimonies of resource persons heard by the House ways and means committee during its deliberations on the proposed new tobacco tax rates, Dominguez said the higher excise taxes on cigarettes under the Sin Tax Reform Law have led to a drop in the number of smokers by roughly a million people per year, with fewer teenagers getting into the habit, and a corresponding increase in revenues that are spent on treating Filipinos with smoking-related diseases.

 

“Our revenues have to keep on going up because we are supporting a lot of people who are getting sick from smoking. That was all the testimony. I was reading the summary of the testimonies, it's overwhelmingly in favor of higher taxes for health reasons,” Dominguez said.

 

A recent news release by the House of Representatives posted on its website quoted Dr. Antonio Dans of the National Academy of Science and Technology as saying that preliminary calculations project about 150,000 new smokers as a result of the rates approved by the House ways and means committee. (Mindanao Examiner)

 

 

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