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GMA, VAT bill criticized on IWWD

DAGUPAN CITY (Mar. 9) — Manang Rosie Vidal, long time settler of Sitio Bagong Barrio in Gueset burst to tears while narrating to a hundred women-advocates the sad tale of the poor fishing village nearing demolition this March for the Bangus Processing Project.

A hundred peso income a day won’t make up for the drastic escalation of prices in basic commodities. The fuel-dependent motorboat they use for fishing will stay home until the next rollback in oil price. Her daughter stopped schooling this semester.

Vidal’s situation clearly conveys a condition most aggravating for the poorest sectors today, says Gabriela Pangasinan in commemoration of the first women-led protest in 1857 in New York which is celebrated every March 8 as the International Working Women’s Day. The event stemmed from 140 workers burned in a factory blaze more than a century ago.

On Tuesday, the militant women ‘s group criticized Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo “for ignoring to better the condition of poor women and serving the interest of the ruling elite”, as shown by her clamoring for the passage of the VAT Bill.

According to Annette Tampico, Gabriela deputy secretary general, when approved, the bill shall impose a 2% hike among the poor man’s menu composed of milk, coffee, sardines and noodles.

“This would lead to worsened domestic violence because of non-increasing wages versus ever-increasing prices,” she said.

To counter the bill, opposition groups will lead series of protest actions, noise barrage, picket beefed by earning one million signatures to be presented to the House of Senate.

On Aprill 11, Gabriela Partylist will mount an Economic Summit to pursue a legislative agenda to be passed to Congress which will cap their opposition to the bill.

“Actually, the 2% added tax will be carried out all through the production process,” she said adding, “the outcome is product with a price the sum of added VAT impositions”.

In Lingayen, Urduja Regional Gender Resource Center (URGRC) led a motorcade around town. URGRC Director Dr. Fe Andico of Pangasinan State University said her office has done studies of women concerns at the local level which elates the capabilities of Pangasinense women.

DepEd Region I together with the City College of Urdaneta (CCU) and PSU have pledged to support the URGRC through joint endeavors signed in a Memorandum of Understanding.

DepEd Region I Supervisor Marilou Cardenas pointed during her talk that the truth of Urduja being debated by scholars won’t matter as long as the ancestors in Pangasinan, passed through a folktale, believed in a woman who stood to lead the rest.

Cardenas said Women’s Month should be a celebration of women and men alike in pursuit of a kinder, gentler and more humane society. # Jhong dela Cruz for NORDIS

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