LAWMAKERS on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to stop the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act or TRAIN law.
In a 34-page petition, the lawmakers led by Rep. Carlos Zarate sought the immediate issuance of a temporary restraining order to stop the TRAIN or Republic Act 10963 and subsequently declare the new tax law unconstitutional.
They made their petition even as the Office of the Solicitor General on Thursday slammed the petition.
“Lack of quorum of Congress is that all you have to nullify the TRAIN Law? Thank you, your Honors, for making my job easier,” Solicitor General Jose Calida said in a post on his Twitter account, noting that such argument was a flimsy excuse.
According to the petitioners, the TRAIN law should be considered void because the House of Representatives approved it without a quorum as required in the Constitution.
“There was grave abuse of discretion on the part of the respondent House leaders when they had the TRAIN Bicameral Conference Committee Report ratified despite the glaring lack of quorum and several other violations of the Constitution and the House Rules insofar as it implements the Constitution,” the lawmakers said in their petition.
They said only around 10 lawmakers, including the petitioners, were present during the ratification stage.
“There having been no quorum during the last three minutes of its December 13, 2017 session, the House of Representatives cannot legitimately and validly conduct any business, much less validly ratify the TRAIN Bicameral Conference Committee Report,” the petitioners said.
They also claimed that there was a grave abuse of discretion on the part of President Rodrigo Duterte when he signed the law that was not properly ratified by Congress.
“There having been no valid ratification of the TRAIN BCC Report, there was consequently no valid presentment to the President of a bill for his enactment,” the petitioners said.
The petition named Duterte and House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez and other House leaders as respondents, but did not include the senators who approved the law in the list.
The lack of quorum in the House was the main argument of the petitioners, who said they would have to still study the legality of the key provisions of the TRAIN law and file a separate petition if necessary.
They said the tax reform law, which slashes personal income tax rates while raising additional revenue for infrastructure and social services, was actually not beneficial to the public.
They said the new excise taxes on petroleum products and sugar-sweetened beverages, and the broader value added tax would hit the poor and low-income earners.
“They will not be able to afford the higher prices that these new taxes will cause, or will be able to only minimally offset these higher prices with what little additional finances they will get from the lowered PIT [personal income taxi,” the petitioners said. With PNA