Loose pieces of legislative advice

Loose pieces of legislative advice | Daily Tribune

In the context of contemporary developments, the compelling weight of unadulterated misgovernance, which legislators in both houses of Congress appear blind to, raises the question of how much more legislative wisdom is required to effect public sector reform. Let us take three areas of public sector concern over which we must prefer rationality to idiocy, and reality to rhetoric, which has been viciously commonplace at all levels of governance.

First, a new legislative enactment must reduce the current income tax rate by 10 percentage points, given disconcerting realities that: (1) public funds committed to agency projects, programs, and/or activities are perennially underutilized; and (2) billions upon billions of pesos, breaching the trillion mark, are systematically converted into stacks of cash that make condos mere warehousing spaces for stolen money. In the first case, unused funds revert back to the Treasury, indicating that development goals were not met. In the second, government is better off if funds intended for priority goals are truly utilized instead of lining the pockets of unscrupulous politicians and bureaucrats.

Second, the much-vaunted rhetoric from the defense establishment advocating for veteran welfare must now find fruition. Former military personnel who did not reach the requirement for either optional or mandatory retirement, provided he or she has served for a minimum of six years in military service, should be conferred veteran status, entitling them to an old-age pension. There is hereby a proposal to open a window to qualify them, upon reaching the age of 65, for a coextensive “equitable, humanitarian retirement plan” computed based on years of military service rendered, if such falls short of either optional or compulsory requirements. The recent hike in the salary of MUP compels government to likewise grant veterans this safety net.

For example, Soldier A served for only 10 years before leaving the military service when he was 40 years of age. Under existing law, he is entitled to an old-age pension upon reaching the age of 65. This means that all he received when he left the service was the corresponding separation and gratuity pay, with no lifetime pension since his service fell short of the optional or compulsory service length required. Yet at 65 years of age, the government conferred on him veteran status, thereby entitling him to an old-age pension. Other than the old-age pension fixed at a measly P5,000 monthly, additional remuneration, such as a “calibrated retirement pension plan,” should be granted to said military personnel in parity with those who retired in full compliance with set service length requirements. Would some mathematically proportionate and equivalent amounts be unjust to ask for these veterans approaching their life expectancy?

Third, as a clear and honest articulation of the government’s resolve to curb corruption and looting from government coffers, it would be in order to do away with terminal fees as well as travel taxes for every flight passenger at the international airport, irrespective of appurtenant obsolete laws that govern these rather “extortionist” arrangements. While Executive Order 903 (1983) grants MIAA the power to set and revise fees, it is obvious that the immediate trigger for the sudden increase occurred when the New NAIA Infra Corp. won the contract to improve or rehabilitate the airport.

Thus, since September of last year, terminal fees for international and domestic flights increased from P550 to P950 and from P200 to P390, respectively. Have these revised fees satisfactorily proved to have modernized infrastructure, services, and airport operations?

Worse, separate from these airport terminal fees, there is likewise a Philippine travel tax at the NAIA pursuant to Presidential Decree 1183 (1977), as amended by RA 9593 (2009), imposed on passengers departing from the country. Such travel tax, which is generally at the rate of P1,620 for economy class passengers, comes in lockstep with the terminal fee, which together must constitute a two-bladed stab at the well-being of flight passengers. Touché.