The Makabayan bloc issued a statement this Friday condemning the administration of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. for the insufficient assistance provided to the public amid ongoing economic struggles.

Makabayan maintained that the President’s response to the different issues arising from the Middle Eastern conflict were lagging behind as Filipinos were severely struggling from inflating costs.

“The administration’s so-called relief programs remain either delayed, inadequate, or narrowly targeted, while its real priority is keeping the present regressive tax structure intact and shielding big business from meaningful accountability,” the group’s statement read.

Solons claimed that the President was safeguarding the wealth of the rich through his unwillingness to tax them of what they said were “excess funds” and instead pressured the poor to shoulder the burden of market volatility.

“We, the Makabayan bloc, denounce the Marcos administration for consistently protecting oil companies and the super-rich while neglecting ordinary and poor Filipinos who are being crushed by runaway fuel prices, rising power rates, and escalating costs of basic goods,” they said.

“Hindi krisis sa revenue ang problema kundi krisis sa political will at krisis sa pagbibigay-pribilehiyo sa oligarkiya,” they added.

Building on its call to hold the rich accountable, lawmakers of the minority bloc re-presented their proposal for a Billionaire Wealth Tax through House Bill No. 8123 that was filed to the House of Representatives last February 26.

The bill sought to impose a tax rate that scaled based on the worth of net taxable assets that are over P1 billion along with various provisions that constitute penalties in case of misdeclaration and concealed transactions.

Makabayan also cited a study from IBON Foundation, a consumer rights group, which set the amount that can be raised from a billionaire wealth tax at P508 billion.

If accurate, the figure far exceeds the excise tax revenue of the government of P304 billion and right behind the value-added tax revenue of P643 billion based on the 2024 annual report of the Bureau of Internal Revenue.

“We call on Congress to urgently act on HB 8123 and advance genuine pro-people measures that curb profiteering, strengthen regulation, raise wages, and fund social services,” the group stressed.

“Panahon nang singilin ang bilyonaryo at kartel, at ipagtanggol ang karapatan ng nakararami,” they added.

Recently, Marcos had signed into law a bill that would grant him the ability to temporarily suspend or fully abolish the excise tax on products like diesel that are priced between P102 up to P134 per liter.

However, the President would only be able to act on the provision 15 days after the date of publication, setting the timeframe to some time between 12 or 13 April.