The Market Monitor Minding the Nation's Business
Ed Javier / Where I Stand
What better way to start the year than to eagerly await the arrival of Pope Francis?
The papal visit is very timely considering the challenges facing us this year. We need the spiritual blessing of the Pope for the strength to surmount the additional burdens imposed upon us by the government.
Consider the following: despite the lousy service of the railways, the government has pushed through with the increase in fares of LRT lines 1 and 2 and MRT line 3 by as much as 50 percent, 66 percent and 87 percent, respectively.
Last week, giant water utility concessionaires Manila Water and Maynilad also hiked their fees. Manila Water will charge an additional P0.36 per cubic meter or P20.26 more for a household using about 30 cubic meters of water a month. For its part, Maynilad will add P0.38 per cubic meter, or about P9.15 more for 30 cubic meters of water.
In the case of the LRT/MRT fare movement, the explanation peddled by the government is that the fare increases are needed to rehabilitate and upgrade the train systems. We find this hard to swallow, especially since the 2015 budget signed by President Aquino already includes a P7.4-billion allocation for the rehabilitation of the MRT. Another P4.65 billion was allotted for its subsidy.
Apart from this, the 2014 supplemental budget approved last month allocated P1.2 billion for the rehabilitation and capacity extension of the MRT, and another P727.6 million for the rehabilitation of LRT lines 1 and 2.
Are these billions not enough? It appears the LRT and MRT have secured sufficient funding from the government to pursue its plans for rehabilitation and upgrading. Why extract more hard-earned money from ordinary commuters and workers?
Is it fair to use the proceeds from the fare hike to fatten the pockets of private concessionaires, like the MRT 3’s Bob Sobrepeña group? And is there any truth to the persistent rumor that the estimated revenues of P2.1billion in fare hikes is a prelude to justify the reduction of the same amount in subsidies?
The government touts that the fare hike will funnel public funds for education and health as well as Visayas and Mindanao projects, but watchdogs like former Bayan Muna Rep. Teddy Casino hinted darkly that the subsidies granted by Congress to the LRT and MRT will most likely be declared as “savings” and realigned, DAP-style.
Casino grouses there was no due process in raising the fares. Apparently, no government body is currently mandated to deliberate on and approve of the rate changes. As a public utility, the fare-increase issue should have passed through an appropriate quasi-judicial body like the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board in the case of buses, jeepneys and taxis, the Marina for shipping lines, and the Civil Aeronautics Board for airlines.
According to Casino, commuters were also denied the right to scrutinize and question the basis of the new fares.
And speaking of the private sector taking on the role of government to protect the people’s interest, has the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System or MWSS done enough to curb the abuses of water concessionaires?
Maynilad, services the west zone of Metro Manila, including the cities of Manila, Quezon, Makati, Caloocan, Pasay, Parañaque Las Piñas, Muntinlupa, Valenzuela, Navotas and Malabon.
The Ayala-led Manila Water serves the east zone of Metro Manila including parts of Quezon City, Taguig, Pateros, Marikina, Pasig, San Juan and Mandaluyong.
According to consumer groups, clients of these corporate giants shouldered the tax burden on behalf of these two companies to the tune of P 15.5 billion from 2008 to 2012. These water concessionaires are raking in billions in profits and yet they have the gall to pass on to cash-strapped ordinary citizens the income tax they owe the government!
If the pass-on scheme started in 2008 was continued under President Aquino’s term, then the current dispensation is equally to blame for the additional burden inflicted on our people. It is unconscionable to allow these corporate giants to continue passing on their income tax to poor Juan de la Cruz!
To be fair, MWSS declared in 2013 that the act of water firms passing on taxes to consumers was “grossly unjust.”
But why did the officials of the MWSS under Mr. Aquino turn a blind eye on this unconscionable act for three years?
It baffles us why this practice has persisted despite the presence of a so-called regulatory agency tasked to look after the welfare of ordinary citizens. Common people have no one else but the government to take up the cudgels for them.
If ordinary people cannot expect the government to defend their rights and protect them from abuses, then I guess we should turn to the Pope for a special blessing to grant us more strength, fortitude, patience and understanding to be able to survive 2015.
Thank God, habemus Papam!
Greetings are in order to the management and staff of The Market Monitor on its maiden issue. This paper is a testimonial to the vibrant Philippine media, the last bastion of our freedom and democracy.
Ed Javier is a print and broadcast journalist who has served in different media outfits. He is a political analyst who has over 25 years of experience in corporate, public and political affairs practice. Currently, he is a member of the board of directors of a number of private corporations.