Palace: eVat on oil needed to fund pro-poor projects

Malacaang is bullish on the economy yet it is holding back on a proposal to reduce the 12 percent expanded value added tax (eVAT) on oil by two percent to help ease the burden of the Filipino people.

At his regular press briefing, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said the income generated by the eVAT on oil is needed to fund the various pro-poor programs of the government.

The taxes on oil are really needed. While the circumstances at that time when it was imposed are different now. We need it to continue to fund our programs, he said.

Lacierda noted that one such program is the governments Conditional Cash Transfer which assists poor families nationwide.

He explained that the government is currently servicing three million family beneficiaries. And out of this number, only 900,000 are covered by a World Bank-Asian Development Bank loan.

The remaining 2.1 million family beneficiaries are funded by the General Appropriations Act, according to Lacierda.

But even then, that foreign loan, ultimately babayaran rin natin yan eh. So babayaran ng gobyerno yan. So talagang pera rin ng pamahalaan yung pambayad doon, he said.

Lacierdas assertion came even after he announced during the same press briefing that the Philippine economy is on an upswing with Philippine exports ending an eight-month slump, growing by three percent year-on-year.

Citing a report by the National Economic Development Authority (Neda), Lacierda said the Philippines was the strongest performer among our East and Southeast Asian neighbors in terms of export growth in January this year.

The report also noted that the Makati Business Club expressed bullishness on the prospects for the economy after a poll it conducted showed that 79.6 percent of respondents believed that the economic growth for 2012 would be higher than last years 3.7 percent.

Optimism carried over to investments with 81.7 percent of respondents expressing confidence that 2012 approvals would increase from last year. There was also a significant improvement among member-companies that would make additional investments this year at 63.4 percent compared to just 56.7 percent last year, Lacierda further quoted the Neda report as saying.

This confirms the views of foreign analysts on the performance of the Philippine economythe improving economic fundamentals of the Philippines expresses sustained confidence in the reforms undertaken by the Aquino administration, Lacierda said.

As such, he added: Our country is right on track toward inclusive, equitable growth.

Lacierda also underscored that the economy was bound to further improve with the massive infrastructure spending expected in the first quarter of 2012.

He said 85 percent (of the budget for infrastructure spending) has already been released.

So we expect better figures to come out. But before I say anything with no statistical basis to back me up, lets wait for the figures, Lacierda said. –Rocky Nazareno, Daily Tribune