Speaker Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on Wednesday rejected a reduction in tariffs on imported meat, saying this would endanger the poultry and livestock industries.
Arroyo made the statement after Albay Rep. Joey Salceda, whom she assigned to study anti-inflationary measures, said the President should consider reducing the tariff on fish and meat imports to zero.
In a media forum, Salceda said President Rodrigo Duterte was facing its “first near crisis” with faster-than-expected inflation. He warned that if left unchecked, rising prices of goods would hamper the Duterte administration’s “ability to implement structural reforms.”
But Arroyo said Wednesday she was not in favor of reducing tariff rates on imported meat, as “there are other more substantive drivers of inflation.”
This developed as the government’s National Price Coordinating Council underscored the need to import more fish and vegetables apart from just rice and sugar, to address supply constraints and ultimately help ease local prices.
The NPCC saw problems in supply which caused prices to go up, Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez said, as their meeting confirmed that some commodities got pricier, especially agriculture products, compared to last year.
“If you compare it versus last month, [prices were] relatively stable,” Lopez said. “Supply constraints made up most of the reports.”
Earlier, Arroyo had proposed several ways to curb inflation in a meeting with President Duterte’s economic managers.
Salceda mentioned the lower tariffs, as well as a suggestion that the Department of Energy, the Energy Regulatory Commission, and the Water Regulatory Office postpone regulated price increases.
Another proposal was to allow the National Food Authority to buy 500,000 metric tons of well-milled rice; and for the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas to raise its key rates by an additional 25 basis points.
Given these “vigorous economic measures,” Salceda said, the government could reduce inflation to 4.4 percent by the end of the year.
But Arroyo, in a news conference Wednesday, said her recent discussion with economic managers was “a brainstorming thing.”
“I’m not in the Executive Department; we had a meeting.. we will do brainstorming. It is not my job to do all those things because I’m not in the executive.”
Arroyo also said Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel Piñol told her that reducing tariff on meat products would be a problem for him. Salceda said the tariff reduction would be removed from the anti-inflation proposals.
Senator Joel Villanueva said controlling inflation must be a priority for the administration’s economic managers, who must explore all possible actions to make sure that the prices of commodities are manageable.
“My question to the economic managers, until when shall Juan tighten his belt before you act to address the problem?” he said.
The Senate, he said, is considering a bill to liberalize the importation of rice and provide consumers greater access to cheaper rice products.
He also urged the government to speed up the delivery of mitigating measures to cushion the impact that the tax reform program will have on the poor.
Opposition Senator Risa Hontiveros said controlling inflation should be a bigger priority than the push for federalism.
“President Duterte must read the writing on the wall. The climbing rates of inflation can deflate his public support and approval,” Hontiveros said.
The Associated Labor Unions-Trade Union Congress of the Philippines said Wednesday that the continuing rise in prices of basic commodities and surging costs of services will result in low productivity and output from workers and will certainly hurt the country’s economic performance.
ALU-TUCP Spokesman Alan Tanjusay said rising inflation has hurt rank-and-file workers and those allied workers in the informal economy to produce goods and render services.
“With this unfavorable condition, we don’t expect a competitive economy on the part of workers in the weeks and months ahead,” Tanjusay said.
Meanwhile, Senator Paolo Benigno Aquino IV said he was committed to blocking the removal of the 10 percent preferential tax rate for private non-profit schools under the proposed second phase of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN).
He said the removal of the 10-percent preferential tax rate would lead to an increase in tuition and other fees.
Currently, private non-profit proprietary educational institutions receive a preferential 10-percent income tax rate, together with non-profit hospitals, offshore banking units, and regional operating headquarters.
But under the TRAIN 2 proposal, these institutions may be taxed up to 25 percent, more than double their current rate, leaving them with less money to invest in quality education for their students. What’s more, this additional cost may result in higher tuition, Aquino said. With Vito Barcelo and PNA