PBBM’s first year in office

Now that taking antigen is no longer required before being allowed entry at Malacanang Palace, Albay Rep. Joey Salceda accepted the invitation to attend President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. (PBBM) signing into law today his pet bill to condone the outstanding loans of agrarian reform beneficiaries (ARBs). Salceda is one of the principal authors of the soon-to-be signed New Agrarian Emancipation Act that the 19th Congress approved into law before they adjourned sessions last month.

Speaking in our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last Wednesday, Salceda disclosed he got hold of a “memo” in which Malacanang rescinds its previous requirement for entry of visitors and guests to undergo anti-COVID antigen test. “No more antigen arte,” Salceda punned. The Malacanang “memo” lifting of its own anti-COVID antigen test came ahead of the recommended issuance of Presidential Proclamation to lift the state of public health emergency all over the Philippines.

Nearly three years after COVID-19 pandemic reached our shores, Salceda noted with optimism that the Philippines has indeed overcome, if not hurdled the worse impact to the economy of the global lockdowns and travel restrictions. In fact, Salceda cited, the per quarter growth of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) “under PBBM has been very strong and consistently above the historical average.”

Regarded as the resident economist of Congress, Salceda tracked the GDP growth rate since PBBM took office in June last year from 7.2 percent in the third quarter; 7.1 percent in the 4th quarter; 6.4 percent in the first quarter of this year. All of which, he stressed, were higher than the 5.9 percent GDP growth rate during the past 20-year average of his three immediate predecessors in office at Malacanang.

At this early stage, Salceda however, cautioned PBBM on the looming “fiscal crisis” in the horizons given the “low tax collection efficiency” of the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and other major government tax collecting agencies. He lauded PBBM for the “consensus economic policies bearing fruit in conventional measures of macroeconomic stability, strong growth, and inflation and unemployment rates declining.”

However, he raised his concern over “perceived hesitation to undertake major fiscal consolidation reforms” that will make it difficult to achieve greater “fiscal space” desired by PBBM’s economic managers. Salceda urged PBBM to tap his huge “political capital” of 31 million votes, or equivalent to 62 percent of last year’s presidential election results. He wishes PBBM will assert in his next state of the nation address (SONA) this July 24 the specific actions to avert the projected fiscal deficit where the government has lesser revenue streams but spending and borrowing more.

Salceda asks PBBM take the bull by the horn, so to speak, to grapple the fiscal gap of the government before it goes wild and unwieldy.

As the chairman of the House ways and means committee, Salceda, however, frowns on the two new proposed tax measures being pushed by the President’s economic team headed by Department of Finance (DOF) Secretary Benjamin Diokno. Salceda particularly questioned the proposed increase in the present sugar tax rate on “sweetened” beverage and other products and the so-called “salt” tax on junk foods that have high sodium or salt content.

Diokno explained the two consumption taxes seek to influence the behavior of Filipino consumers to wean them away from such unhealthy eating habits.

But based though from empirical evidence, Salceda countered, the two DOF proposals are “regressive” kind of taxation that can add to State revenues but won’t improve any the health of the greater number of poor Filipinos who will bear the heavier tax burden. Instead, Salceda suggested taxing the rich and moneyed people who consume luxury cars by imposing higher tax rates on high-end motor vehicles, capture for State revenues the big businesses in digital or online merchandising, and transfer tax on mining.

With PBBM acting as the concurrent Department of Agriculture (DA) Secretary, Salceda believes the Chief Executive can still do a lot more to further boost the contribution of the agriculture sector to the annual GDP growth of the country. With ten as the highest score, Salceda gave PBBM a grade of eight for implementing various policies that helped improved agricultural productivity nationwide.

“Palay farmers are enjoying more income from farm gate prices increasing despite low rice inflation,” Salceda pointed out. However, he acknowledged “the need to reconcile policies on trade in sugar and key vegetable such as onion which he blamed to existing “structural deficiencies.” Thus, he welcomed the orders issued by PBBM last Monday directing deeper probe into the smuggling, hoarding and price-fixing of onion and other agricultural crops for possible filing cases of economic sabotage charges.

Although there have been so much importations of rice, sugar and other agriculture crops, Salceda argued, PBBM is doing a good job at the DA amid the challenges of the trade liberalization embraced by the Philippine government. These included the Rice Tariffication Law to the country’s latest ratification of the free trade agreement under the Regional Comprehensive Partnership (RCEP). Salceda agrees with  PBBM to continue on as “acting” Agriculture Secretary, the only remaining unfilled Cabinet post.

Salceda hailed PBBM for taking up this extra burden for the over three million Filipino farmers, especially those covered by the approval of the new Agrarian Emancipation Act. According to him, many of these farmer families were granted lands under Presidential Decree (PD) 27 issued by PBBM’s late namesake father, ex-President Ferdinand Sr.

Once this takes effect, it will write off P57.5-billion principal debts owed by 610,054 ARBs awarded ownership of the agrarian reform lands.

Salceda counts on the management style demonstrated by PBBM on his first year in office will carry the programs of government through the rest of this administration’s term.