By URIEL C. QUILINGUING
Contributing Editor
BASIC sector representatives of the National Anti-Poverty Commission (NAPC) secretariat called on members of Congress to reexamine the tax reform for acceleration and inclusion (Train) and rice tariffication laws since these do not benefit their members.
Noel Felongco, the Napc lead convenor who graced the two-day combined regional sectoral assembly for regions 9, 10 and the Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (Barmm) at Chali Conference Center, this city, assured close to 500 participants their collective sentiment would be presented in an en-banc session this month.
NAPC, created under the Social Reform and Poverty Alleviation Act that took effect on June 30, 1998, is chaired no less by the President.
Cooperative sector representative Sofronio V. Talisic said the Train compels cooperatives to pay taxes when these service-oriented enterprises do not generate huge profits, hence were tax-exempt from the start.
Talisic, who represents Region 11 in NAPC being the chairperson of the Nabunturan Integrated Cooperative (Nico), said profits cooperatives generate are given to members in the form of dividends and patronage refunds aside from the mandatory fund for training.
Cooperatives encompass all basic sectors since membership includes farmers, fisherfolk, urban poor, indigenous peoples, formal and informal workers, women, youth, senior citizens, persons with disabilities, victims of calamities and disasters, and non-governmental organizations.
The cooperative leader was referring to the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program or Train that took effect on Jan. 1, 2018.
Eduardo “Ed” Mora, speaking on behalf of coconut farmers, said specific issues for his sector have been low prices of copra, massive conversions of coconut lands to other uses, and the long-delayed release of the controversial coconut levy fund to coconut farmers.
But beyond coconut-related concerns, Mora said, high prices of well-milled rice even after the passage of the rice tariffication law, which liberalized rice imports, took effect is an issue which all sectors share.
The rice tariffication law, which provides for the liberalization of rice imports, exports, and trading, was intended to provide affordable rice prices for consumers and raise the income of palay farmers.
“This has not been realized because price of rice remains high yet the price of palay is low,” said the convenor of Coconut Farmers Coalition.
Felongco said he agrees with the observation since indeed rice tariffication was intended for farmers but it is not helping them.
Taxation of cooperatives and high prices of rice were just two of the many issues basic sectors share in common, according to NAPC basic sectors vice-chairperson Ruperto Aleroza.
Aleroza said one of the specific issues, particularly that of fisherfolk, is the absence of a community fish-landing facility which could have increased the income of the sector’s members since they will no longer be dictated upon exploited by middlemen.
Iligan city-based Regina Antequiesa, who was among those displaced by typhoon “Sendong” and represented the victims of disasters and calamities, said they are urging policy-makers and legislators to institutionalize inclusiveness in disaster risk reduction and management by engaging them in the planning and implementation of rehabilitation programs.
Oftentimes, calamity victims and internally-displaced persons find themselves relocated or resettled in places bereft of the basic necessities such as sources of water, electricity, and access to livelihood, education, and places of worship.
For NAPC, the 10 basic needs are food, water, shelter, work, health care, education, social protection, healthy environment, peace, and participation.
Aside from the experiences of Sendong victims, Antequiesa said, non-inclusion of affected residents of Marawi, after the devastation due to armed conflict, is one of the major causes in the rebuilding delays.
