Category: Malaya

Malaya editorial:

We see that the International Monetary Fund is standing four-square behind the government’s refusal to scrap the value added tax on oil and, by extension, on power rates, and sticking to providing direct support to the poor in this time of surging prices.

Government’s refusal to scrap the VAT on oil is based on the simple fact that revenues continue to lag behind spending. It needs the money and it is loathe to lose any source of revenues. We have this suspicion the purported direct transfers to help the poor cope with rising prices of food and other necessities are but an after-the-fact rationalization.

Following is a tribute by Ina Silverio to Ka Bel. Ina used to be in the staff of Rep. Beltran in the House of Representatives. She is now with the joint monitoring team in the peace talks between the Philippine government and the National Democratic Front.

by Ina Silverio

My boss, favorite labor leader/mass leader, kaibigan and pinakamamahal na kasama Anakpawis Rep. Crispin Beltran died yesterday, a little before noon after sustaining massive head injuries.

To my fellow idiots when it comes to numbers, there’s hope in understanding the voluminous national budget referred to by lawmakers and bureaucrats as the General Appropriations Act.

Yesterday, I attended a briefing conducted by the bright guys behind the Center for National Budget: Joseph Ranola, Bingo P. Dejaresco III, Resty Maglalang, Domingo Teope, Victor Tirol, Jr.

The group has broken down the intimidating GAA into short primers and analyses for easier reading. The main publication is the “Guidebook to Effective and Transparent National Budget Legislation”.

We know that all through these years Malacañang, in connivance with legislators have been giving the people a bad deal. For how do you explain P3.81 trillion (that’s twelve zeros) debt, the interest payment alone eats up one third of our budget. How did we sink in debt?

by Lito Banayo
Malaya

Their paths will always cross. Across generations of their family even.

Mariano Arroyo used to be the appointed governor of Iloilo back when we were yet to be a commonwealth of the Americans. Together with a Chinese rice trader named Sualoy, he introduced jueteng into his province. And what a hit it made with the timawas who bet daily on the numbers game. Such that the illegal numbers racket hit the pages of a local newspaper published by Benito Lopez, who turned it into a crusade.