No new taxes, no Cha-cha under Noy

MANILA, Philippines - With less than a year left in his term, President Aquino appears bent on sticking to his policies against imposing new taxes and amending the Constitution.

New taxes can destroy a politician’s career while tinkering with the Charter may be divisive and may tempt elected officials to seek term extension.

“Our people dared us to demonstrate how good governance leads to better performance and brings them meaningful benefits. By delivering the real and measurable dividends of good governance, we enabled our countrymen to aspire for greater prosperity for themselves and their country,” Aquino said in his budget message that accompanied his proposed P3.002-trillion “continuity” national budget for 2016 submitted to the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Despite formidable challenges, the President said his administration has fought hard to make the “impossible possible” by confronting powerful vested interests, by implementing game-changing reforms and expanding scarce resources without imposing new taxes, except implementing the Sin Tax Reform Law.

Aquino said his administration reduced poverty incidence from 28.6 percent in 2009 to 25.8 percent in 2014 by transforming the “way we deliver basic services.” 

In a press briefing, presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda yesterday said Aquino cannot possibly please everyone as he downplayed former Supreme Court chief justice Reynato Puno’s expressing dismay over the Chief Executive’s lack of support for Charter change through constitutional convention.

Puno earlier said Cha-cha is the way to address entrenched problems besetting the country’s political system.

“Everybody who watches the SONA has his or her own advocacy... The President does not have the habit of putting token statements just to please everyone,” Lacierda said. “The President recognizes the fact that he cannot please everyone, but the President is mandated to present the state of the nation and he did so.

“We respect the views of retired Chief Justice Puno, that is his advocacy but we can’t please everyone,” he said.

Disappointed

Also disappointed with Aquino’s lack of interest in Charter change is Francis Lim, president of the Shareholders’ Association of the Philippines (SharePHIL) and former president of Philippine Stock Exchange.

“President Aquino should ask Congress to amend the economic provisions of the Constitution. Data show that despite good public governance for more than five years, we still badly trail behind other ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian) countries in attracting much-needed foreign direct investments,” Lim said.

“The moral of the story is that good governance alone will not do the trick. Equally important is that the country must liberalize its investment climate,” Lim said.

“We cannot meaningfully do it without lifting the restrictive provisions of our Constitution. If President Aquino is able to do this, that will truly be his legacy to the Filipino people. History will fondly remember him for it,” Lim added.

Aquino did briefly entertain the idea of changing the Constitution and extending his term but he immediately changed his mind and said he would focus on laying the foundations for lasting transformation.

At that time, the President suffered a ratings drop because of the Priority Development Assistance Fund scam and the controversy involving Disbursement Acceleration Program (DAP). Aquino eventually recovered from the plunge in his ratings but a majority of the people rejected the proposal to extend his term through Cha-cha based on surveys.

Mindanao priority

The President also emphasized Mindanao would not be left behind even in the absence of a Bangsamoro Basic Law at the moment.

“We continue to invest in initiatives that address the root causes of conflict: poverty and injustice. Thus, we will boost the Payapa at Masaganang Pamayanan or PAMANA program with a P12.8-billion budget in 2016 – P5.5 billion more than its allocation this year – to deliver basic services to conflict-affected areas throughout the archipelago,” Aquino said.  – With Jess Diaz