Readers speak on traffic, RH Law and taxes

We are featuring today a number of readers that had sent in their comments on my recently published BizLinks columns in this paper.

The first comes from Raymond Tumao on the continuing traffic problems of Metro Manila. Here’s what he says:

“Urban planner Jun Palafox has been urging Pres. Duterte to adopt the JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency) plan to decongest traffic in Metro Manila according to the news almost posted everyday.

“The solution of JICA is workable, if there is enough time to work with. But as of today, traffic has been getting worse. I have a quick solution to the EDSA traffic, and it is designed to act as a model route for other bus operators plying outside routes to follow.

“However, until today I still have no contact with the person who could sit down and listen to my plan which I feel could be a quicker solution compared to other plans, if ever there is one. To summarize my plan, here is how it goes:

“1. List down all buses passing through EDSA, including those that merely pass a portion of EDSA. Each bus listed should show a legitimate CPC or franchise, and the following data should be collected: Year imported or assembled; (passenger) capacity; euro compliancy; a/c equipped or not; average number of hours in use per day/week/month; ownership (individual/partnership/corporation); average daily fuel consumption over number of hours on the road and estimated remaining useful life.

“2. All data derived from the above shall be inputted in a computer data base and treated as the operational fleet, making each bus a numerator and the total number of buses used per a 12-hour cut-off as the denominator.

“The idea is to pro-rate the total revenues and distribute to the bus owners of the buses according to the number of buses used per 12-hour run after deducting miscellaneous expenses like management fees and utilities.

“Maintenance of buses shall remain charged to the account of the bus owner until such time as new fleets of buses replace the presently depreciating buses.

“3. All buses traversing EDSA shall use a dedicated extreme right lane per direction of EDSA. The inner second lane can be used for overtaking, if the bus is full. Buses shall strictly stop only at designated stops when needed. Passengers can board or alight only at these stops.

“4. All buses will be electronically identified through an RFID signaling system that will inform the grid jockey (GJ) of the position of all buses in the grid. A two-way radio is installed in each bus enabling the driver to inform the contents of his bus and await further instructions like advancing to the next stops or disengaging when he reaches the terminal.

“Drivers will not mind if his bus is full or not as long as he continues his journey and informs his GJ his position and loading capacity. It is up to the GJ to decide what to do to reduce road space usage along EDSA.

“The drivers shall be paid by their corresponding operator and not by the consortium until such time when the entire system is straightened out and the ranks are professionalized.

“As to conductors, the consortium members should create the jobs for them in the meantime, but there will be no more conductors in the future. Drivers shall be paid as regular employees enjoying the same benefits like white collar employees receive.

“At the end of this experimental period, the members shall meet and discuss what they should do on the next stage.

“I have the entire process planned out since 2003, so I guess the outcome will not differ much from what I have planned, modesty aside.”

On reproductive health

We received a comment from Ching Aunario on my recent column dealing with the Reproductive Health law. Here’s what she says:

“This refers to your article titled “The will to make it happen” (The Philippine Star, 8/23/16, page B-5) on the full implementation of the reproductive health (RH) law. The RH law promotes the aggressive use of contraceptives to control population, in order to reduce poverty.

“Let’s have economic measures to help address our country’s economic challenges. It was reported the Family Health and Responsible Parenthood or FHRP program of the Department of Health has an allocation of P2.2 billion in 2016, and more than P1.2 billion in the last quarter of 2015 to be implemented in 2016 (PDI 8/9/16, A12).

“Moreover, the report said the DOH’s Office of the Secretary has yearly savings of (in billions) P5.46, P7.578, P9.2 and P8.8 for the years 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2015, respectively, or a whopping accumulated savings of more than P31 billion.

“Such colossal amounts can send millions of poor children to finish college, buy medicines for hypertension/heart ailments of the poor, employ the jobless, produce more food, build classrooms, hospitals, infrastructure for job creation ... and countless more positively advantageous measures with long-term and fruitful economic benefits for the country.

“Mr. Cielito Habito, a noted economist, also wrote that hunger persists worldwide not because there is not enough food. He said “the challenge of food security at the national and global levels is not so much about food supplies as about food distribution and accessibility to the poor and hungry.”

“Mr. Habito posed: “Why is there so much food in the world, yet so many continue to be without it? The World Future Council blames market structures that are profit-seeking and speculative, leading to prices that exclude the poor from access to healthy food and hinder investments in small-scale agriculture.” (PDI, 8/16/16, A11)

“One need not be a rocket scientist to figure out how to help solve the problem of poverty, given the available wealth of our country.

“Indeed, the resources of the world are enough to feed its population, but not sufficient to satisfy the greed of one man.”

On raising taxes

Another reader, Rene Moral, sent his views on previous plans by the current government to raise taxes. While the discussion on raising the value-added tax (VAT) rate has been stopped, the plan to raise taxes on oil products is still very much an option. Here is what he has to say:

“Raising the VAT from 12 percent to 14 percent will negate whatever benefit the reduction in personal and corporate taxes may yield; ditto for raising the tax on oil products. If at all, a 14 percent VAT should be applied for luxury items only the rich can afford.

“Billions are lost through smuggling. If the same passion in fighting illegal drugs is applied to smuggling, there might be no need to raise taxes on oil products and the VAT to 14 percent.”

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Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 25th Floor, 139 Corporate Center, Valero Street, Salcedo Village, 1227 Makati City. Or e-mail me at [email protected]. For a compilation of previous articles, visit www.BizlinksPhilippines.net.