IF the government insists it cannot suspend excise tax on petroleum products because of the revenue loss, then it should at least use part of the windfall from excise on oil to give people more substantial subsidies, Sen. Manny Pacquiao said last Saturday night.
Fielding questions at the first of Comelec-sponsored debates among presidential candidates, Pacquiao joined at least four other aspirants in supporting a proposal—shut down on Thursday by President Duterte—to temporarily halt excise taxes on oil, given the steady climb in world prices.
Duterte rejected the calls but approved a proposal by the Department of Finance to grant some P33.1 billion in new “ayuda” to the bottom 50 percent of the poor families, or some P200 a month, which critics deem too little.
The government has also touted the P2.5 billion in fuel subsidy to the transportation sector and P500 million to farmers and fishermen.
The first Comelec debate saw nine of 10 presidential candidates—former senator Bongbong Marcos skipped it—fielding questions on pandemic response and the economy.
BBB, Covid funds
TO the question of whether he considered the “Build, Build, Build” program successful, Pacquiao said it would be “unfair to the president, the government” to call it a failure. He said, partly in Filipino, that “it should be pursued. That’s part of strategies for economic growth and development.”
Second, he added, “we should continue building houses nationwide.”
“If I become president, I will implement that nationwide,” referring to his pet personal project of buying land in the south and building communities, providing house and lot for qualified poor families.
For “Build, Build, Build,” he said, “we should add roads in Mindanao, Visayas,” where, many things need to be developed in order to, among others, cut the roots of most conflicts.
Speaking mostly in Filipino, Pacquiao said, “I lived in the mountains, I mingled with Muslim brothers. They feel left behind, neglected.”
Asked if he thinks the Philippines is ready for another Covid surge, he said Filipinos need to simply keep faith with health protocols like the “strict wearing of masks.” Filipinos, he added, must “learn to live with Covid. Above all, boost contact tracing. Meantime, maybe close our borders.” But, he stressed, people must be allowed to continue their trade; they just have to follow IATF guidelines.
“Above all,” he said, “budgets for pandemic response must be used for what they were intended for.”
Youth, WFH
ASKED what can be done to help the youth hone their learning competencies and boost job chances after the disruptions of the pandemic, Pacquiao said the problem is really, not so much the quality of graduates by “can they find jobs?” adding “and how do we provide jobs for them?”
He thinks the mandate of TESDA should be expanded so it can train more young people on skills they can use to land jobs.
Pacquiao also does not favor a shotgun approach to a four-day work week, proposed by economic managers to cut fuel consumption and help workers save on commuting.
“Hybrid, it should be hybrid,” Pacquiao said, noting that not all jobs lend themselves well to having work hours extended from eight to 10 hours for the compressed work days.
“Please remember some jobs are hard. If you’ll be exposed to the sun for 10 hours,” that might not be advisable, health-wise, he said.