Senator Grace Poe on Monday asked the Department of Finance and other concerned agencies to immediately release the guidelines for subsidies for poor families and low-wage earners under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law.
Poe, who chairs the Senate committee on public services, said poor families, students, drivers, commuters and others are already feeling the effects of the rising prices of fuel, commodities, and services.
“We need to give our people the help they deserve under the law,” Poe said in Filipino.
Section 82 of the tax reform law grants fuel vouchers to jeepney franchise holders and fare discounts, rice discounts and free skills training to minimum-wage earners and the poorest 50 percent of the population. A total of 10 million low-income households will also receive P200 per month this year and P300 a month in 2019 and 2020.
“Let us give out the subsidies right away because they have approved the collection of new taxes but have not come out with any help to the poor,” she said. “We have to speed this up because it’s been half a year and people are hurting because of the rising prices.”
During the hearing of Poe’s panel in Albay last week, the Transport Department admitted that they have yet to firm up the guidelines for fuel voucher assistance to jeepney drivers. Of the 10 million low-income households qualified for the targeted cash assistance, it was reported that only 4.4 million families have so far been given the financial subsidies.
Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV, meanwhile, said he was concerned that some poor families would sacrifice the education of their children in the face of rising prices of goods and services due to the TRAIN Law.
“Due to the increase in prices, many students can no longer go to school,” said Aquino, one of the senators who voted against TRAIN.
The high prices even cut the value of the government’s assistance programs such as the Pantawid Pamilya Pilipino Program (4Ps), Aquino said.
During a Senate hearing on the TRAIN Law in Legazpi City, Aquino also pushed for the full implementation of a Pantawid Pasada program, which aims to help jeepney operators and drivers cope with the increase in fuel prices.
For 2018, the government has earmarked P977 million for 179,000 jeepney operators under the Pantawid Pasada program.
Aquino also batted for the passage of a measure that aims to roll back TRAIN’s excise tax on fuel when average inflation rate surpasses the annual inflation target over a three-month period.