An objective look at mining, taxes, and the HRW report
DAVAO CITY — The accusations hurled by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the supposed “diary” featured by the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism (PCIJ) allegedly written by retired police officer Arturo Lascanas may have a lot of spice, but require a lot of salt.
Both are full of allegations. For these to stick, we need to ascertain whether the cop really wrote the diary the PCIJ reported and verify the contained facts. We also need to evaluate whether HRW did the best homework when preparing the report, since they have always been critical of the President.
Unfortunately for both HRW and PCIJ, their reports are applauded too much by the President’s detractors, forcing any journalist worth his or her salt to apply the same salt when reading them. When the political support for a supposedly independent report is just too strong, its stand alone credibility is threatened.
Sadly, one of things many find suspicious is that these induce us to conclude without formal investigations that the President is culpable for wrongdoing. Moreover, the problem with these accusations is that they do not stop at seeking justice for the victims, but brew a dislike for the President, feeding a political agenda of an opposition that remains largely discredited, with corruption allegations and high levels of crime during their reign.
The emotions these reports seem to feed may suggest a bandwagon we must be wary of. We’ve jumped on too many bandwagons that have led us nowhere.
Why should we be wary? Because behind the emotions the numbers show improvements in official crime numbers. From 2015 to 2016, total volume went down by 13.47%, with index crimes down by 30.62%.
If you doubt these numbers, go to slum areas and they will tell you that the drug threats have gone down, bolstered by the December 21, 2016, 4th Quarter Social Weather Survey of the Social Weather Stations which reported that a whopping 88% surveyed said that the drug problem has declined since the president took office.
Perhaps these other facts were not covered as extensively by the media.
Lower crime figures belie claims of “darkness falling on the Philippines” – only the reportage in some media outlets seem to say so.
That said, some people make a lot of money by mongering fear, intrigue, and ill will. We hope the time will come when we no longer need them to deliver our news. Today, we have greater choice.
As far as mining goes, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez was able to steer the discussions away from the uncomfortable political binds that once rendered the Aquino government spineless against the issues of this important sector.
By taking the Minerals Industry Coordinating Council to work on the proper technical audits and assessments which will form the basis for further decisions on the fate of the 72 MPSAs, government, for once, is not afraid of mining. It is taking this bull by the horns to set the right precedent- that decisions of mining should be based on science and reason, not fear and superstition.
The same is true with taxes. The Department of Finance (DOF) is pushing for vital reforms in the way taxes are determined and collected. A big number of income earners will pay less taxes, shifting the burden to those who can afford to pay up.
The numbers form a glaring picture: only 15% of all Filipinos pay income taxes. Again, the DOF has taken the difficult bull by the horns and is advocating very well, with consultations and roadshows to take their case to the people. So far, this program has been endorsed by many sectors.
Whats next? Before tax reforms go into full swing, we hope the DOF cracks down on economic sectors that we need to tax. The public has to come forward and tell us who, for instance should give proper receipts and pay the required taxes like VAT.
We reported in a previous column that there has been some concerns about transport providers like Grab and Uber, with many on social media alleging that these do not give proper receipts, and do not pay the right VAT. We should also look next at some online businesses which some readers claimed do not issue proper receipts.
If indeed we are entering the “post truth society,” we need facts, not just dramatic accusations, to convince us that their political positions are worth supporting. With today’s tools, we can verify the facts behind the HRW and PCIJ reports before we get enamored by the messages they want us to imbibe.
Before heeding anything they call for, download their reports, read, compare with other data, and decide for ourselves whether we should believe them. Information is power, but the ability to verify and evaluate that information makes us more powerful.