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Presidential son called ugly parrot talking in pale moonlight
Militants told Arroyo son: Blame your Monster Mom on VAT, economic crisis

Instead of accusing critics of confusing the Filipino people about the Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT), the left-leaning fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Wednesday said presidential son and Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo should blame the President over the extreme economic crisis felt by majority of 88 million Filipinos courtesy of oil price hikes and the controversial tax measure.

“This congressman is not doing his homework that’s why he is talking like an ugly parrot in pale moonlight. This guy is nothing, really nothing,” Pamalakaya national chair Fernando Hicap said in a press statement.

“Rep. Arroyo should blame her Monster Mom for this across-the-nation economic fiasco. How stupid of him to blame his mother’s critics and accuse them of misleading the people. The people have decided, 87 percent of the Filipino people want VAT on oil scrapped, period, period, period,” Hicap added.

The Pamalakaya leader made the harsh remarks against Rep. Arroyo, after the latter challenged politicians and critics of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to refrain from misleading the people by portraying the EVAT as evil and the main cause of poverty in the country.

On the other hand, the militant group likewise challenged Press Secretary and Palace spokesman Jesus Dureza to a stirring debate on VAT before a crowd of hungry, starving, homeless and jobless people in Plaza Miranda.

“Let’s have a debate in Plaza Miranda and let us see if he could convince the people that VAT is for the poor. Like Arroyo, her son Mikey, the President’s spokesperson is nothing but an aging and pathetic mouthpiece of the administration on VAT,” Pamalakaya said.

Dureza yesterday said there is a need for massive info campaign on the importance of VAT to poor and vulnerable sectors of the society. The Press Secretary said some sectors are manipulating and misleading the poor to reject VAT.

“So the political chorus line of Malacañang nowadays is manipulation. The attack dogs of President Arroyo in and out of Presidential Palace are singing the same tune,” Pamalakaya added.

Earlier Pamalakaya accused oil companies of raking an automatic P 4.7 million daily in total gross profits from small fisherfolk consumers of gasoline and diesel everytime they jack up the price of petroleum products by an average of P 1.50 per liter.

Using the 2002 based figure obtained from the National Statistics Office, there are about 313,985 small fish boat operators in the country that employ at least an average of 10 liters of gasoline per fishing trip, or roughly P 600 per fishing nowadays, compared to the daily average of P 180 for fuel consumption in 2001.

Every week, with the predictable hike in the prices of petroleum products at an average of P 1.50 per liter, oil companies rake in at least P 28.2 million on the first week, P 56.4 million on the second week, P 169.2 million on the third week, and P 676.8 million on the fourth week. On the other hand, fuel consumption eats up almost 80 percent of the total cost of production per fishing trip among fishermen with motorized bancas.

The expanded value added tax (EVAT) and other taxes levied on oil further pushed up the prices of petroleum products like gasoline. Since, the VAT on oil represents 12 percent of the price per liter, removing the controversial tax measure on oil would automatically reduce cost of petroleum products by an average of P 6 to P 6.50 per liter.

The weekly and unbearable increases in the prices of petroleum products have pushed small fishermen operating small motorized boats to reduce fishing hours from the normal 8 to 12 hours to 4 to 8 hours because of the high prices of gasoline and other oil products.

Because of the weekly increases in the prices of petroleum products, and further compounded by the VAT on oil and other taxes charged to oil products, small fishermen have started to reduce fishing hours and devote a significant part of their time to sideline either as tricycle drivers or construction workers in and out of their respective fishing villages.

Even paddle using fishermen who are relying mainly on their fish nets and backward fishing gears are also affected by the unstoppable increases in the prices of petroleum products since they use an average of 1 to 2 liters of kerosene per fishing trip.

Using the same data obtained from NSO, there are about 653,000 paddle using fishermen which employ a liter of gasoline per fishing trip and that cost poor fisherfolk an additional P 9 to P18 per week, and on the one hand, an additional P 5.7 to P 11.4 million gross profits for oil companies per week. The country’s commercial fishers have also admitted fuel cost eats up 65 percent of their total cost of production per fishing trip.

Since the deregulation of the oil industry, prices of diesel went up by 738 percent, gasoline by 572% and liquefied petroleum gas by 499%. A study conducted by Ibon Data bank reveals that 47 percent to 52 percent of the current prices of petroleum products represent profits of oil companies in the Philippines, and the present prices of petroleum products are overpriced by an average of P 12 per liter, due to speculative acts of oil cartel’s mother companies abroad like Chevron and Shell. #

posted by: GerryCorpuz at 05:18 | link | comments |
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