Poe wants cash aid, fuel vouchers for poor

IF the government has no intention to listen to proposals seeking to suspend the imposition of excise tax on petroleum products under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion ( Train) Law, it should at least fast-track implementation of programs that would cushion the impact on the poor of rising prices of fuel and other goods.

Sen. Grace Poe made the call as the price of liquefied petroleum gas or LPG has increased by as much as P3.40 per kilogram even as fuel prices have also gone up for three consecutive weeks.

Poe, who heads the Senate Committee on Public Services, said social mitigating measures, such as fuel vouchers, fare discounts and cash subsidies, are necessary to help the poor cope with rising process especially as school opening looms.

“Many people feel the effects of higher prices, not just brought about by the Train Law but the world market, the prices of oil, but there are safety nets that we should be able to implement immediately and it’s in the hands now of the government to make sure that those subsidies are distributed on time,” she noted during a hearing in Albay on the effects of the tax reform law on public transportation on Friday.

The senator, also during a hearing in Iloilo last week, called for the immediate suspension of fuel excise taxes amid mounting complaints that the law aggravated price hikes on the back of rising global fuel costs and weakening peso.

But the Department of Finance has opposed calls for the suspension of specific portions or the entirety of the Train Law, saying it was necessary to earn additional revenues to finance various infrastructure programs and projects.

The Train Law imposed a new P3 tax for every liter of kerosene, P2.50 for every liter of diesel and bunker fuel and P1 for every kilogram of liquefied petroleum gas.

Under Section 82 of the tax reform law, jeepney franchise holders are entitled to fuel vouchers; minimum-wage earners and the poorest 50 percent of the population are qualified for fare discounts, discounted National Food Authority rice and free skills training; and a total of 10 million low-income households will each receive P200 per month this year and P300 per month in 2019 and 2020.

Poe urged the government to release the guidelines to implement the fuel vouchers, additional 10-percent fare discount and other subsidies to the minimum-wage earners, the unemployed and the poorest 50 percent of the population as provided in the law.

A representative from the Transportation department, who was present during the committee hearing in Albay, told Poe that they have a selfimposed deadline or until end-June to publish the rules for the Pantawid Pasada Program.

About P977 million is appropriated for the program this year, which would be distributed to some 179,000 jeepney franchise holders, according to the Department of Transportation.

But transport and consumer groups and student leaders, who were also present during the hearing, also told Poe that the Transportation department has not discussed with them the possible subsidies they could get under the Train Law.

Poe’s committee learned that only 4.4 million families had received the cash transfers.

For 2018, the government has allocated P25.67 billion for the cash transfer program under the General Appropriations Act to help low-income households cope with the inflationary impact of the tax reform law.

Of the P25.67 billion, P24.49 billion is under the account of the Land Bank of the Philippines, which will distribute the allocation via ATMs or through rural banks, non- government organizations and cooperatives.

“We should be able to implement immediately the safety nets. It is in the hands of the government to make sure that those subsidies are distributed on time to our countrymen, especially the poorest who are affected by this, so that they will be given a reprieve,” Poe said.