Gov't branded "highly immoral" for EVAT law

The Cebu Alliance for Renewable Energy finds it "highly immoral" for the government to implement the Expanded Value Added Tax law "as such could only spur corruption while the people are being burdened by high taxes."

As this developed, labor and drivers groups announced their plan to hold simultaneous strikes before the controversial tax law swings into effect this November.

CARE said that the upcoming implementation of the EVAT law spells high electricity rates for the consumers and would mean more debt for the government-owned National Power Corporation because it pays higher taxes for the coal and fossil fuels that it imports for the independent power producers.

"Napocor will also shield fossil-fuel-burning IPPs by shouldering all-new taxation scheme under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act.

"Bad contracts entered into by the Napocor in addition to the EVAT law will propel the prices of electricity to heights beyond our imagining," said Vince Cinches, CARE coordinator.

"It is highly immoral for Arroyo to let us -the consumers- pay for the policies she implemented and enjoyed by her close associates. EVAT will only spur more corruption in the government," he added.

He said the new tax law would be made as reason by power and oil corporations to jack up their prices to rake in more profits.

The new VAT law, which was signed by President Gloria Arroyo last May 23, and which the Supreme Court recently upheld as constitutional, imposes 10 percent tax on power rates starting this November and an increase to 12 percent by January next year. Ten percent tax would also be imposed to generation, distribution and transmission of power and all these would be passed on to the consumers.

With the expected increase in the prices of power, Cinches said that it is time for the government to shift to renewable and sustainable sources of energy to spare the economy and the consumers from regressive taxation.

"It is quiet ironic for a country that's second in terms of geothermal capacity to be burdened by the rising cost of imported fossil fuels and the implementation of unjust taxation on the energy sector," he said.

To block the implementation of the EVAT, workers, consumers and drivers groups will launch a nationwide protest initially scheduled on November 10. However, since the new tax law is expected to kick off on the first day of November, Lito Vasquez, spokesperson of Laban ng Masa and Freedom from Debt Coalition-Cebu president said that they might stage the strike before November 1.

Dennis Derige, Labor Power Council chairman, said that their coming "welgang bayan" aims to force the government to stop the implementation of the EVAT and to forcibly oust President Arroyo." - Wenna A. Berondo