Roxas: Documentary stamp tax paid by OFWs should fund services, needs

Sen. Mar Roxas rallied overseas Filipino workers and their families to help pressure the government into setting aside a special fund for lawyers and other assistance using funds collected from a tax imposed on OFW remittances.

Roxas, chairman of the Senate committee on trade and commerce, said the government could set aside its collections from its 0.15% documentary stamp tax (DST) estimated at a billion pesos every year to provide legal and other services to protect our OFWs, especially for hiring lawyers for OFWs imprisoned or facing court cases abroad.

“Para sa akin, dapat ilagay ang nakolektang DST sa special fund para sa Overseas Workers Welfare Administration , para lamang sa pangangailangan ninyong mga OFW,” he said. “Ang sagot dito dapat ay isang sistema na sisiguruhin na kahit saan mag-landing ang mga OFWs natin, may matatawagan sila na maasahan pag magka-problema sila.”

“Pero mas maganda para sa mga OFWs na tanggalin na ang DST na ito,” said Roxas, author of Senate Bill No. 2479 that seeks the removal of the documentary stamp tax on OFW remittances.

“Kung mapupunta lang ang pera sa kung saan-saan sa gobyerno, mas mabuti pang maiwan na lang ito sa kamay at bulsa ng mga pamilya na siyang tatanggap nitong pera,” he said in a speech before Migrante International, a group representing OFWs and their families.

Roxas said the government should also consider using the money from the DST on OFW remittances to help OFW families cope with skyrocketing prices of food and transport.

“Tutal ay pera naman ninyo ito, kayo rin dapat ang makikinabang dito. Hindi dapat ito mapunta sa mga ma-anomalyang transaksyon na pinapasukan ng gobyerno,” he added.

OFWs remitted a total of $14.7 billion in 2007 through the banking system. If remittances sent through unofficial channels are calculated, the estimated total remittances last year reached at least $16 billion, from which the government collected roughly $22 million or P1 billion in 0.15% documentary stamp tax (DST).

Roxas has actively sought additional protection and assistance to OFWs. In the 2008 budget, he pushed for a P50-million budget for the DoLE’s OFW Social Reintegration program, which Malacanang has yet to release to the Department of labor and Employment. The program provides “balikbayan” OFWs with sufficient knowledge of how to use their savings as well as investment opportunities and other forms of reintegration assistance.

Monday, September 22, 2008 | posted in documentary stamp tax, dole, mar roxas, ofw, philippines | 0 comments [ More ]

Roxas sought P500M budget realignment for cheaper medicines; but proposed add'l 2008 DOH budget not acted on

Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas revealed last Sunday he sought to realign P500 million from the proposed 2008 national budget to make available cheaper medicines to the public under a law that he authored, but Congress' conference committee did not act on it.

The Ilonggo senator said he wrote Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile, Senate Finance Committee Chairman, to consider realigning P500 million from the P3-billion Kilos Asenso Fund as additional budget for the Department of Health's Medicine Procurement Program under the Cheaper Medicines Act.

As primary author of that law, Roxas sought to make available to Filipinos cheap medicines that are normally sold here at high prices by local and foreign drug companies.

"Ang sagot natin sana sa mataas na presyo ng gamot dito sa atin ay itong batas na itinulak ko sa Kongreso, at hiniling ko na bigyan ng dagdag na P500 milyon ang budget ng DOH para sa implementasyon nito."

He said the conference committee, however, only approved his recommendation that P50 million be allotted as budget for the reintegration of returning OFWs under the Social Protection and Welfare Program of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) and another P10 million for the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) for the purchase of laboratory equipment for the implementation of the cheaper medicines law.

Roxas said he is releasing this information ahead of an expected showdown Monday on senatorial budget insertions arising from allegations of Senator Panfilo Lacson that Senate President Manuel Villar engineered an insertion in the GAA for a "road to nowhere."

"I requested realignments in the 2008 budget for what I believed are for the public interest and I hope everybody bare their own requests so this won't turn into a game of deception and obfuscation," he said.

He added that his request was also approved for P90 million under the Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) for the widening and improvement of the heavily congested Manila-Cavite Road.

He said the P90 million request was made under the representation of Cavite Rep. Joseph Emilio Abaya, who sought the appropriation to address mounting complaints from Cavite's motorists of massive daily traffic congestion to and from Manila especially during the rush hour.

"This is a project to widen the road that is a major route not only for Cavite's beleaguered motorists and commuters, but also for cargo trucks transporting export products from the Cavite Export Processing Zone to Manila for shipment," he said.

Roxas said: "The national budget involves the people's hard-earned money that they entrusted to the government through taxes, so they ought to know whether these are being spent for their benefit or only for the benefit of a few."

He said the Senate Finance Committee, and thereafter the bicameral conference committee, approved his proposed amendment to the 2008 GAA for the allotment of P50 million for the DOLE's OFW social integration program.

"Daan-libong mga kababayan nating OFW ang bumabalik dito sa Pilipinas na walang trabaho o hindi alam kung paano gagamitin ang kinita nila. Kaya kasama ito sa programa na inaprubahan ng Kongreso sa ilalim ng aking panukala. Hindi lang po natin gustong makabalik nang ligtas ang ating mga OFWs kundi siguruhin din na magiging maayos din ang kanilang buhay sa pag-uwi nila," he said.

Under this program, the National Reintegration Center for OFWs of the DOLE will provide counseling, job matching services and skills training and development for returning OFWs, Roxas noted. He also said that DOLE had been pushing for this project for a long time and it was only funded this year.

Roxas said the P10 million for the DOH was allotted for the purchase of laboratory equipment for BFAD in preparation for the full implementation of the Cheaper Medicines Act.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008 | posted in bfad, cheaper medicines bill, doh, dole, joseph abaya, juan ponce enrile, manny villar, mar roxas, ofw, ping lacson, road to nowhere | 1 comments [ More ]