12% EVAT additional burden to people

	NORDIS WEEKLY February 5, 2006
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12% EVAT additional burden to people—militants
BAGUIO CITY (Feb. 3) — Militant organizations here met the implementation of the additional 2% expanded value added tax (EVAT) with protest actions to stress that additional taxes will further burden the people with looming increases in prices of basic goods and services. The Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) administration increased the 10% EVAT to 12%, as indicated in the Reformed Value Added Tax (RVAT) law on February 1. On the same date, militant groups led by the Tongtongan ti Umili (TTU)-Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) staged a noise barrage as part of the national day of action against EVAT. In a statement, TTU criticized GMA for bragging that the EVAT implemented last November 2005 made the peso stronger and returned the confidence of investors. The group claimed that GMA does not have any idea of the sacrifices the Filipino masses endure just to survive the blow of the new taxes. “The 12% VAT will again plunge the people into deeper poverty, alongside with the problem of massive unemployment, low wages and lack of basic social services,” the TTU statement read. Migrante Baguio chapter chairperson Flora Belinan reiterated that the peso-value gain during the holidays was due to the increase in the overseas Filipino workers’ (OFWs) remittances. She stressed that the dollar remittances of OFWs have been sustaining the plummeting economy of the GMA regime, and yet the present administration continues to forsake them. Aldwin Quitasol of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said that the recent implementation would increase the already soaring prices of basic commodities, and further decrease the purchasing power of workers’ wage. He added that the GMA administration prioritized the implementation of tax revenue policies, instead of granting the long overdue wage increase that the workers demand. Instead of helping them cope with the increasing cost of leaving, GMA focused on laws that would distress them more. Meanwhile, the Organisasyon dagiti Nakurapay nga Umili ti Syudad (Ornus) earlier led a protest action on January 31 at Kilometer 0 here against the implementation of the 12% EVAT saying that it would further strike the already beaten urban poor families. In a separate mobilization on January 31 staged by the Youth Demanding Arroyo’s Removal (Youth DARe), National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) Baguio-Benguet chapter coordinator John Panem said that the new EVAT rate would deprive the youth of education. He claimed that more youth would be forced to drop out from school, and look for jobs to augment family incomes. # Kimberlie Olmaya Ngabit-Quitasol for NORDIS Post your comments, reactions to this article
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	NORDIS WEEKLY February 5, 2006
Home \| To bottom	Previous \| Next
12% EVAT additional burden to people—militants
BAGUIO CITY (Feb. 3) — Militant organizations here met the implementation of the additional 2% expanded value added tax (EVAT) with protest actions to stress that additional taxes will further burden the people with looming increases in prices of basic goods and services. The Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo (GMA) administration increased the 10% EVAT to 12%, as indicated in the Reformed Value Added Tax (RVAT) law on February 1. On the same date, militant groups led by the Tongtongan ti Umili (TTU)-Cordillera Peoples Alliance (CPA) staged a noise barrage as part of the national day of action against EVAT. In a statement, TTU criticized GMA for bragging that the EVAT implemented last November 2005 made the peso stronger and returned the confidence of investors. The group claimed that GMA does not have any idea of the sacrifices the Filipino masses endure just to survive the blow of the new taxes. “The 12% VAT will again plunge the people into deeper poverty, alongside with the problem of massive unemployment, low wages and lack of basic social services,” the TTU statement read. Migrante Baguio chapter chairperson Flora Belinan reiterated that the peso-value gain during the holidays was due to the increase in the overseas Filipino workers’ (OFWs) remittances. She stressed that the dollar remittances of OFWs have been sustaining the plummeting economy of the GMA regime, and yet the present administration continues to forsake them. Aldwin Quitasol of the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) said that the recent implementation would increase the already soaring prices of basic commodities, and further decrease the purchasing power of workers’ wage. He added that the GMA administration prioritized the implementation of tax revenue policies, instead of granting the long overdue wage increase that the workers demand. Instead of helping them cope with the increasing cost of leaving, GMA focused on laws that would distress them more. Meanwhile, the Organisasyon dagiti Nakurapay nga Umili ti Syudad (Ornus) earlier led a protest action on January 31 at Kilometer 0 here against the implementation of the 12% EVAT saying that it would further strike the already beaten urban poor families. In a separate mobilization on January 31 staged by the Youth Demanding Arroyo’s Removal (Youth DARe), National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) Baguio-Benguet chapter coordinator John Panem said that the new EVAT rate would deprive the youth of education. He claimed that more youth would be forced to drop out from school, and look for jobs to augment family incomes. # Kimberlie Olmaya Ngabit-Quitasol for NORDIS Post your comments, reactions to this article
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