President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has been making much of the government’s P 2 billion subsidy for the poorest power consumers. This, she said, is a product of the value-added tax (VAT) on power, which contributed considerably to the increase in power rates in the last few years. But why is the government giving a mere pittance of a subsidy, considering that it earned billions of pesos from the VAT on power? Is the bulk of the earnings going to the administration party’s campaign fund for the 2010 elections?
BY FLON FAURILLO
Bulatlat
Vol. VIII, No. 18, June 8-14, 2008
