Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, March 18) — Presidential candidate and labor leader Leody De Guzman disagrees with the administration’s move to retain fuel excise taxes.
De Guzman insisted suspending the collection of fuel excise and VAT will provide immediate relief to Filipinos struggling to cope with rising prices.
“Yung ibibigay na ₱200, prop lang yan gaya nung mga nakaraan. Kunwari nagbigay pero karamihan ng mga tao hindi naman nakatanggap,” De Guzman said Friday.
[Translation: The ₱200 will only serve as prop like before. It would look like they’ve provided it but in reality, most people did not receive it.]
President Rodrigo Duterte, upon the advice of economic managers, has rejected calls to suspend the collection of fuel excise taxes.
Instead, the government promised to provide a ₱200 monthly subsidy to about 12 million poor families for a year.
De Guzman’s running mate, former party-list representative Walden Bello, pointed out that cash grant programs are prone to irregularities.
He also questioned the failure of the current and past administrations to pass the oil deregulation law which would give the government authority to control oil prices
“Ang hirap talaga ipatupad yan (It’s hard to implement that). It favors certain groups, it’s prone to corruption,” Bello said.
No car day
Both De Guzman and Bello supported calls to mandate a no car day once or twice a week.
They believe Filipinos should be less reliant on cars and go for more environmental friendly modes of transportation like the bike.
Relatedly, De Guzman said he is against the construction of more elevated expressways as it will encourage more people to buy cars.
“Yung mass transport ang dapat i-develop at gawing maayos at convenient, on time, reliable,” De Guzman explained.
[Translation: They should instead develop mass transport and make it better, more convenient, on time, and reliable.]
