Swifties in Congress

Recently, I have been attending hearings in the Senate on the PIFITA Bill, or the Passive Income and Financial Intermediary Taxation Act, which was among the comprehensive tax reform bills launched in the Duterte administration and carried on to the present administration, as Trustee of the Philippine Insurers and Reinsurers Association.

I am reminded how the government is mindful of bringing in every single peso to raise fiscal revenues and how important it is to discuss these with the stakeholders before actually passing these measures into law. The Senate Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Senator Win Gatchalian, is technically equipped with the people to handle this complex piece of legislation, which has been discussed for years before the two houses of Congress.

Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by Rep. Joey Salceda, is likewise driven to look for ways to raise funds for the government, albeit too much already, perhaps. In a recent statement, Representative Salceda averred that the “exclusive” holding by Taylor Swift of her concerts solely in Singapore demanded an explanation, alluding that Taylor Swift should have performed in other Southeast Asian countries, particularly the Philippines.

Rep. Salceda mentioned this after Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin had said in a statement that Singapore made an exclusive deal with Taylor Swift’s management for her not to perform in any other Southeast Asian country, granting perks that purportedly reached US$3 million, in favor of Taylor Swift.

Most respectfully, I am of the opinion that this should not be discussed at all, and we may not blame Taylor Swift for choosing Singapore as her only Southeast Asian destination, where she performed for five nights. In the first place, the venue in Singapore — the Singapore National Stadium — is way better than our Philippine Arena. Although both structures can fit more than fifty thousand people, the ease of access is the determining factor.

After watching two concerts in the Singapore National Stadium, I was back near my hotel in around 30 minutes via subway. Compare this to the concertgoers in the Philippine Arena, who take 3-4 hours to get home after an event.

The question rather is whether the Philippines has the facilities to host mega-events and superstars such as Taylor Swift without disrupting the entire metropolis. If we recall how we hosted the FIBA World Cup — although the country was highly successful in hosting it — the event caused intense traffic jams in different parts of the city, even leading to a declared holiday just to open the roads. Our metropolis is unable to host multiple international events at the same time.

So, instead of summoning the Singapore Ambassador to the Philippines, Congress should summon our local tourism and infrastructure authorities to question their plans for making the Philippines a destination for foreign artists and how we can better improve their perks similar to what Singapore is doing.

Imagine if we could host a Formula 1 race or PGA golf tournament without hampering the city’s operations. The local economy will benefit from the tourists and the spending at the hotels, restaurants, and local stores.

Our Congressional Swifties should look beyond the foregone Eras Tour and see what other international spectacles we may attract in the future. In any case, we have local sensation “Taylor Sheesh” to watch, for now.

For comments, email him at darren.dejesus@gmail.com.