This story
was taken from Bulatlat, the Philippines's alternative weekly
newsmagazine (www.bulatlat.com, www.bulatlat.net, www.bulatlat.org).
Vol. V, No. 29, August 28-September 3, 2005
If oil
prices surge anew and E-VAT TRO is lifted: The
spokesperson of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement) said that the
various cause-oriented groups are ready to stage a series of protest actions if
oil prices increase again and the temporary restraining order on the Expanded
Value-Added Tax (EVAT) law is lifted at the same time. The protests would
include a nationwide transport strike, KMU spokesperson Prestoline Suyat told
Bulatlat in an interview. BY
ALEXANDER MARTIN REMOLLINO
The spokesperson
of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement) said that the various
cause-oriented groups are ready to stage a series of protest actions should oil
prices increase again and the temporary restraining order on the Expanded
Value-Added Tax (E-VAT) law is lifted at the same time. The protests would
include a nationwide transport strike, KMU spokesperson Prestoline Suyat told
Bulatlat in an interview.
World oil prices
had reached historic highs in the past few weeks, with Dubai crude oil soaring
to $55 per barrel and New York crude oil jumping to $67 per barrel. This,
despite the recent revelation of Sheikh Ahmad Fahad Al Sabah, Kuwait’s oil
minister, that global oil supply has exceeded demand over the last two years.
Meanwhile, oil
companies in the Philippines had taken advantage of the recent surge in world
oil prices to increase pump prices by as much as P0.50 ($0.0089 based on a
$1:P55.94 exchange rate) per liter. This latest oil price hike was the 14th
this year, making for a total P7.50 ($0.1341) per liter increase in diesel
prices and P4.50 ($0.081) per liter increase in gasoline prices.
Energy
conservation
The Macapagal-Arroyo
government has called for energy conservation measures as a way of coping with
what Malacañang describes as a “looming energy crisis.”
In an Aug. 21
statement, Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye came up with suggestions on energy
conservation, among them the following: replacing
incandescent bulbs with fluorescent bulbs, setting air-conditioning thermostats
to the lowest comfortable level, unplugging electrical appliances when not in
use, proper maintenance of vehicles, and avoidance of elevator usage. He even
warned that in a worst-case scenario, the government could be forced to resort
to oil rationing, similar to what was done in the 1980s, when the Iran-Iraq war
triggered a world oil crisis.
Suyat described Malacañang’s energy-saving prescriptions as “ridiculous.”
According to him, it is the government that is to be blamed for what it
describes as an energy crisis. “Because we have no basic industries,” Suyat
said, “we are dependent on the world market.”
The
supposed energy crisis was also among the issues raised in a multi-sectoral
rally at Welcome Rotunda, the boundary between Quezon City and Manila, last Aug.
23. Various groups under the banner of the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan or
New Patriotic Alliance) commemorated the 109th anniversary of the Cry
of Pugadlawin, an event which signaled the start of the 1896 Philippine
Revolution against Spanish colonialism, by shredding LPG (liquefied petroleum
gas) purchase receipts and other symbols of what Bayan secretary-general Renato
Reyes, Jr. described as “economic burdens imposed by the Arroyo administration.”
“We
have nothing left to save and yet we are being called upon to be more frugal,”
Emmi de Jesus, secretary-general of the women’s alliance Gabriela said during
the rally.
In a
statement distributed during the rally, Eleanor de Guzman, Anakbayan
secretary-general, called for the suspension of Republic Act 8479 or the
Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998 and the imposition of a
moratorium on oil price hikes.
E-VAT
Also
raised during the rally was the issue of the E-VAT law.
“The
E-VAT law is concededly a bitter pill to take but this is what is necessary to
enhance our fiscal stability, to equitably spread out the tax burden, shore up
business confidence and broaden social reforms,” Bunye had said in his Aug. 21
statement.
Speaking at the Aug. 23 rally, Reyes said: “Our bondage today is partly
symbolized by the many taxes and debts we are being forced to pay by the Arroyo
administration.”
Asked to comment on Bunye’s statement on the E-VAT, Suyat said: “The E-VAT law
should be scrapped. It will adversely affect basic commodities and the revenues
to be raised from its implementation will not benefit the country, they will
just go to debt servicing and corruption.”
Presently covered
by the VAT are: food products (processed meat, canned fish, coconut and
vegetable oil, bakery products, noodles, milk, dairy products, coffee, sugar);
clothing, footwear, tannery and leather products; drugs and medicine, furniture,
pulp and paper; glass and glass products; cement, steel, iron, wood and most
construction materials; electrical lamps and equipment; machinery and equipment
both for manufacturing and agriculture; wholesale trade and retail trade;
pawnshops; restaurants, cafes and other eating and drinking places; employment
and recruitment agencies; motion picture production; hotels and motels; and
telecommunications (including landline, post-paid and pre-paid mobile phone
services).
In his Aug. 21
statement, Bunye had said that the government would implement measures to
alleviate the impact of the E-VAT if the Supreme Court’s TRO be lifted. Among
these, said Bunye, would be the reduction of import tariff on petroleum
products, the elimination of excise tax on oil products, the deployment of
rolling “cold chain facilities” to make agricultural products like fresh meat
and vegetables accessible to consumers at cheaper prices and the activation of
monitoring units to guard against price gouging.
Any measure that
would help, Suyat said, would be welcome, “but the government must also take
into consideration the demands of the people and the mass organizations.”
Bulatlat © 2004 Bulatlat
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