Senator Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday called on President Duterte to stop pushing for the adoption of a federal form of government and instead act decisively on the country’s high 5.7 percent inflation rate.
The Duterte government must set its priorities straight, she said.
“Instead of insisting on its credibility-challenged federalism, the Duterte government must focus its attention on finding ways to increase the citizens’ purchasing power to help them dodge the impact of the sky-high inflation rate,” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros advised President Duterte to read the writing on the wall.
‘’The climbing rates of inflation can deflate his public support and approval. Ang kailangan ng mamamayan ay hindi nakakasukang ‘pepedederalismo’ kundi ekonomiyang magpapagaan sa kanilang paghihirap mismo,” she added. (The need of citizens is an economy that eases their hardships and not (Mocha Uson’s) ‘pepedederalismo.’)
Hontiveros thus proposed five policy prescriptions for the government to address the inflation spike. These are:Cash transfer to all 10 million to all the 10 million poor people.
Ensure that the poorest 10 million Filipino families receive the government’s unconditional cash transfer (UCT) regardless if a family is a beneficiary of the social pension scheme for senior citizens. Bigger families deserve to be compensated to a greater extent and it would be unjust if some of them were denied the unconditional cash transfers.
Shift in rice policy. Lowering the price of rice has to be the priority of policy through a shift from quantitative restrictions to moderate tariffs if necessary, but certainly with more timely imports even under the present regime. This must be done while providing protection to and ensuring the competitiveness of Filipino farmers.
Speed up infrastructure build-up. There must be “speed, speed, speed” with the government’s “build, build, build” program, even as we judiciously scrutinize the loans that were acquired for the said big-ticket infrastructure projects. It must also prioritize the hiring of Filipino workers. With trillions of pesos worth of infrastructure projects, they can create thousands of direct and indirect jobs. Special focus on infrastructure spending in irrigation can also quickly help address the high cost of domestically produced rice.
Wage increase. The state must help workers get a higher take-home pay to increase their purchasing power. With the unforseen rise in inflation, wages must be responsive to today’s economic reality.
Cut the Value Added Tax (VAT). The government should certify as urgent the passage of Senate Bill No. 1671 otherwise known as the “Bawas VAT” bill to provide relief for the lower economic deciles of the population affected by the TRAIN law by lowering the existing VAT rate to 10 percent from the current 12 percent.
Hontiveros cited a Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) report which stated that inflation jumped to 5.7 percent in July. The latest figure was higher than the 5.2 percent registered in June.
In the National Capital Region (NCR), inflation surged to 6.5 percent from the previous 5.8 percent. Areas outside NCR followed the trend and registered a 5.5 percent jump, higher than the 5.1 percent in June.
[SOURCE]
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