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By Angelo S. Samonte, Reporter
A total of P2 billion in proceeds from
value-added tax (VAT) on oil will subsidize the poor in the country,
President Gloria Arroyo announced Tuesday.
The Chief Executive said the new round of
assistance will include P1 billion for power subsidy; P1 billion as
microfinancing for wives of public-transport drivers and
conductors; P500 million for the upgrading of hospitals; P500
million additional benefits to senior citizens; and P1 billion for
infrastructure and rehabilitation for calamity-stricken provinces,
including the Panay Group of Islands.
The President made the announcement in her
opening statement Tuesday at the start of a Cabinet meeting of the
National Disaster Coordinating Council in Placer, Masbate, in the
Bicol region.
Mrs. Arroyo said the financial assistance for
the poor will come from excess collection from the VAT on oil for
the second quarter or from April to June 2008.
The government was expecting to collect P4 billion in excess revenue
from the oil tax in the second quarter, Budget Secretary Rolando
Andaya said.
The P2-billion poverty fund is on top of the P4
billion that was already released by the government during the first
quarter, he added.
The President has also ordered the release of
P478 million for the rehabilitation of the lone coastal road of
Eastern Samar, former presidential political adviser Gabriel Claudio
said.
She is pushing for the development of Samar
Island as a tourism destination, saying the Visayas region—the
country’s third biggest group of islands after Luzon and
Mindanao—has what it takes to match the tourism attractions of
other provinces in the region, such as Bohol and Cebu.
The Eastern Samar coastal road stretches from
Guiuan, the southernmost municipality of the province, to the
municipality of Arteche in the north. The P478-million allocation
covers the rehabilitation only of the 160-kilometer Guiuan-Taft
section of the national road.
The amount, which is “provided for” in the
2008 General Appropriations Act, is ready for immediate use, Claudio
said.
To ensure transparency in the implementation of
pro-poor programs, the government plans to tap the help of the
Catholic Church and other religious organizations, Press Secretary
Jesus Dureza said also on Tuesday.
”To enhance transparency, accountability and
effectiveness of these programs, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves
recommended to extend invitation to work with the CBCP and religious
groups, such as the El Shaddai and Iglesia ni Cristo, in
identifying, implementation and monitoring targeted programs for
the poor and vulnerable sectors to be funded by incremental VAT
revenues,” he added in a statement. CBCP is the influential
Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
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