Arroyo finally signs bill exempting seniors from eVAT

The bill that launched a hundred protest rallies by thousands of Filipino elderly as President Arroyo took her sweet time enacting it was finally signed into law yesterday by her.

Deputy presidential spokesman Charito Planas told the media through text message that the Expanded Senior Citizens Act (Esca), which was approved by Congress late last month is now ready for implementation, as confirmed to her by Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita.

This was also confirmed by deputy presidential spokesman Gary Olivar, who said that the Chief Executive had indeed already signed the bill into law by virtue of Republic Act 9994.

Prior to the bill’s enactment, senior citizens who had been previously enjoying the privilege given them under the Senior Citizens’ Law of getting a 20 percent discount on certain necessities, like food and medicine, were stripped of that benefit last year after the government pushed Congress to approve the imposition of the expanded Value Added Tax (eVAT) on all purchases made by the citizenry. Its implementation effectively brought down the 20 percent discount that the elderly were availing to a mere 8 percent, a discount value that was practically worthless.

Olivar said Arroyo signed the Esca into law yesterday morning or just a few hours before she kicked off the third leg of her “legacy campaign,” a promotional tour of her agri-business development programs in Mindanao .

“With the signing of the expanded senior citizens benefits act, our elderly can now expect additional financial assistance to help them weather the uncertainties of old age in an uncertain global economy.

“The President is fully aware of the fiscal costs of this law, but people should remember that this is only one of the many social services and safety net programs that have been created precisely to spread the benefits of our fiscal recovery to the neediest of our citizens,” Olivar said in a statement.

He, though, noted the potential implications that the new law may bring on the country’s fiscal situation as it would certainly bear on the government’s economic policies, a huge part of which is taxation.

Olivar furthermore said Arroyo intends to continue looking after the most vulnerable members of society, such as the elderly, even as she works to secure the economic gains her administration has achieved.

The Esca had faced the prospect of being sidelined by Arroyo as she was reportedly not keen on enacting the Congress-approved bill because it goes against her administration’s strategy of boosting the state’s coffers through the imposition of more taxes.

The Department of Finance and a number of her economic managers have also called on her to veto the bill as it would cost the government some P1.7 billion in lost revenues.

Arroyo taking much time to sign the Esca into law, however, was well within the law that gives the President 30 days within which to enact a bill.

Because of that law she could have taken much longer to forge her signature on the Esca bill but she was apparently pressured by the mounting protests by senior citizens to do so.

Another factor that perhaps weighed in on her decision is the forthcoming simultaneous national and local elections where a huge number of the elderly are poised to vote.

The Esca was ratified by Congress just before it adjourned early this month to give way for its members to campaign for the polls in May.  –Aytch S. de la Cruz, Daily Tribune