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It can be guesstimated that the total additional profits generated by the oil firms from overpricing gasoline and diesel is about P142.50 million a day. Of this amount, P17.10 million went to government in the form of the 12 percent value-added tax (VAT).
Carinderia vendors and consumers considerably lean on each other to combat the threat of food insecurity, but several vendors also stressed that they can’t hold on long enough and hope to receive subsidies from the government.
“I’m a pork vendor, but my viand is just leftover pork ribs. I can’t even afford to buy what I sell.”
"If we don't spend enough, ordinary citizens would continue to suffer...If we don't reverse the business closures, how could we generate jobs? The government would then have to provide aid, which is obviously not sustainable." -- Marikina 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo
"12% VAT on digital service providers such as Netflix and Lazada. Why not collect taxes from POGO?"
“The Duterte administration’s plans for economic recovery revolve around continuing infrastructure projects as the main source of economic stimulus, which actually stalled economic recovery.”
As COVID-19 wipes out whatever is left of the limited opportunities for Filipinos to earn a living, the Duterte administration’s lacking response, combined with an oppressive political environment, creates conditions for a perfect storm of social unrest.
“Thousands of fisherfolk, farmers, and rural poor who depend on fishing and coconut farming will lose their livelihoods.”
Oil firms-imposed price adjustments are higher than what should be – by P 2.41 per liter for diesel and P4.76 per liter for gasoline, based on a DOE-recognized formula. The Big Three, a Duterte backer and other oil firms, rake in tens of millions of pesos daily from profiteering.
“Regional inequalities in the country can be reduced by providing economic dynamism in rural areas, which have lagged behind the urban areas and growth centers in the previous decades, leading to serious regional disparities.”
Medical experts said it will take 18 months to develop a vaccine, though more for it to become deployable. In the meantime, I find myself being ushered into a “new normal”.
“During an intense crisis, the economic policies that should be implemented are those that are pro-people.”
"This [#BarangayDamayan] aims to unite citizens while we undergo this public health crisis. It is very evident how the government has not provided urgent solutions such as free mass testing, accessible health care and assurance of job security amid the community quarantine. We see these as more tangible solutions rather than troop deployment."
For Ibon, the widening gap between the rich and the poor illustrates best the state of the Philippine economy. The P4-trillion net worth of 40 richest Filipinos is equivalent to the income of 54 million Filipinos.
"It will condemn to economic bankruptcy the sugar industry’s 80,000 planters and the employment and livelihood loss of its 700,000 agricultural workers, 26,000 mill workers and some 2 million downstream dependents."
"We could say that Oceanagold really crippled our livelihood."
Focusing on just Manila Water diverts the issue away from privatization as the central issue in, and underlying reason behind, the artificial shortage. As such, it also has the effect of absolving government of responsibility when in fact, the biggest accountability in all this lies with government for abandoning its duty to ensure water for the people.
Farmers and advocates warn of the negative impacts of rice tariffication.
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