Camille P. Balagtas
People's TONIGHT
September 9, 2002
PIMENTEL SAYS BARANGAY EXECS MUST BE STRIPPED OF POWER TO RECALL
LOCAL OFFICIALS
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Senator Aquilino Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said Congress
should amend the Local Government Code (Republic Act 7160) to
strip barangay officials of the power to initiate recall
elections in case they are not satisfied with the performance of
the mayor and other elected city or town officials.
Pimentel bewailed that this recall power is being taken advantage
of by unscrupulous politicians to promote selfish ambitions and
to harass elected local officials.
"It is being used as a partisan political weapon, and I
think that is not right. It should be abolished," he said.
He said there should only be one mechanism to remove abusive and
incompetent mayors and local officials, and that is for the
residents or voters to directly initiate the recall and holding
of a new election.
Pimentel said the phase out of the Preparatory Recall Assembly
(PRA), composed of barangay chairmen and councilmen, is one of
the 152 amendments to the code he is pushing under Senate Bill
826 which he had filed last year.
Pimentel, principal author of the Code, explained that the
provision on the PRA was not contained in the original draft of
the Code that he presented in Congress 11 years ago.
But he said the provision on the PRA was inserted into the final
version of the Code upon the insistence of a group of congressmen
led by Zamboanga del Sur Rep. Wilfred Cainglet (now deceased.)
"Since they were pressing hard for its inclusion, I was
forced to accept their proposal to avoid further obstacles.
Otherwise, the approval of the Code would have suffered a
delay," the senator from Mindanao said.
Pimentel said it is his intention that the recall power is not
the business of the barangay officials since it is not they but
the community of voters who had elected the town or city
executives.
He said his original proposal was for the people themselves to
directly initiate the recall by gathering the signatures of a
given percentage of the voting population in the recall petition.
There is now a recall move against Taguig Mayor Sigfredo Tinga.
The move is being spearheaded by the camp of Rep. Alan Peter
Cayetano.
The Commission on Elections has already approved the holding of a
recall election in Puerto Princesa City. ///camille p. balagtas
Camille P. Balagtas
People's TONIGHT
September 9, 2002
NEW TAX ON PRE-PAID CELL CARDS LACKS SUPPORT IN THE SENATE
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At least three senators lambasted the proposed imposition of tax
on the prepaid cards brought by celfone subscribers, describing
the move as anti-poor.
Sen. Ralph G. Recto, chairman of the ways and means committee,
said "any unreasonable burden on cellphone usage whether for
post-paid or pre-paid would be opposed by consumers and advocates
in the Senate. It will share the fate of the unlamented tax on
text messages."
"Government's desire to collect the VAT when the cards are
issued by the companies is a tax administration issue and should
not be replaced by a new burden on consumers who pay VAT whenever
they buy pre-paid cards."
Recto reiterated his "no-new-taxes" stand and assured
cellphone users that no bill has yet been filed in Congress nor a
proposal transmitted from the Finance department calling for a
new tax on cellphone usage.
"The BIR should be clear on whether it is plugging a
loophole or merely narrowing the lag time from actual VAT payment
- at the time of card purchase - up to VAT remittance to the BIR.
Government wants to collect VAT upon issuance of the cards."
"Plugging a loophole which presumes tax evasion based on
underreporting by cellphone companies can be a subject of a legal
action by the BIR and not by a new tax on pre-paid users."
Recto explained "to be threshed out are National Internal
Revenue Code provisions that allow cellphone companies to book
sales of pre-paid cards at the time it ends up in the hands of
the end-consumer."
"Likewise, pre-paid card sales are treated as a consignment
transaction and deemed a sale only after 60 days. These allow
cellphone companies to hold on to VAT payments regardless of
whether these were sold ahead of the 60-day limit on consignment
sales."
Recto assured cellphone users that the issue to be addressed
"is transparent reporting of sales and VAT payments on
pre-paid cards. This is to be resolved between the BIR and
cellphone companies, not between the BIR and cellphone
users."
Senator Manuel Villar said the target of this move is directly
hitting millions of ordinary Filipinos for whom texting is
already a way of life.
"While we realize the need to raise added revenues to
address the widening budget deficit, the burden must not be
passed on to consumers," said Villar, Chair of the Senate
committee on Finance.
And just like Recto, Villar blamed the inefficiency of tax
collectors and revenue generating agencies like the BIR.
"Any added tax on the use of cellphones clamps down on an
effective means of communication that is already an indispensable
part of the lives of millions of Filipinos.
Villar proposed that instead of thinking up additional taxes to
curb the deficit, Villar says government should concentrate on
improving tax collection efficiency.
"Creativity must not be geared towards new taxes but on
schemes that willmake revenue agencies such as the BIR and
Customs meet their targets," said Villar
Senator Tessie Aquino-Oreta assailed the Department of Finance
for this alleged unreasonable move.
If the government really wants to make a more active and direct
presence in the telecoms industry, Oreta said the best way for it
to do so is not to cock up new taxes that would hurt the small
subscribers but to order the inutile National Telecommunication
to enforce pro consumer policies like the drastic cut in the cost
of voice calls, which the NTC has yet to implement. ///camille p.
balagtas