By Arjay L. Balinbin
Reporter
PRESIDENT Rodrigo R. Duterte on Sunday said he is leaving the controversial first package of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law to Congress, amid the current environment of inflation and calls from critics to suspend the law.
“Well, the law was enacted by Congress, I’ll leave it to Congress to decide whether or not to amend or suspend or modify the law,” Mr. Duterte said in a press briefing at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport Terminal 2 before his flight to South Korea on Sunday morning.
“ Because kung sabihin ko naman na (even if I say that) we need it for the Build, Build, Build [project],…sabihin naman na… wala naman akong magawa (they’ll say there’s nothing I can do).”
In a speech last week, Mr. Duterte said, “Inflation is always there. There are many reasons, but also actually, one of them is the TRAIN [law],” he said.
“But I need money also to run the country. If you do not give it, fine!” he added.
Makabayan (Bayan) Secretary-General Renato M. Reyes, Jr. in a statement attributed to the TRAIN Law the “increase in the prices of commodities, especially fuel.”
For her part, Senate committee on public services chairperson Senator Grace Poe-Llamanzares urged the government to expedite the release of guidelines for the distribution of fuel vouchers to jeepney drivers.
Under Section 82 of the tax reform law, “jeepney franchise holders are entitled to fuel vouchers; minimum-wage earners and the poorest 50 percent of the population are qualified for fare discounts, discounted National Food Authority rice and free skills training, while a total of 10 million low-income households will each receive P200 per month this year and P300 per month in 2019 and 2020,” the senator noted.
She said “only 4.4 million families had received the targeted cash transfers” in their five months of implementation.
