Militant farmers from the Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) along with other militant groups has launched the petition signing versus the planned new taxes in various places in Metro Manila and eventually the whole country. According to Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos, secretary general of the group, “this is to show President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her cohorts how unpopular her 8 point tax measures are and that the people are all set to oppose her oppressive moves,”

“It is a challenge to Ms. Arroyo to muster the political will to find other ways of raising revenues, reducing expenses and not further burdening the already downtrodden citizens of our country. We also call on our revenue collecting agencies to prioritize the big time tax evaders, plug the loopholes as well as tax leakages and eliminate graft and corruption in their ranks,” added the peasant leader.

The peasant group also reiterated that the so-called fiscal crisis is largely self-inflicted. More than P400 billion was lost last year due to drastic cuts in import duties/tariffs, fiscal incentives to foreign investors, VAT and income tax evasion and tax credit scams and leakages.

“When we have gathered enough signatures we will file this petition to Congress to stop the further degradation of our livelihood. This will also show who really is working for the betterment of our country because in the petition and the studies we have done, we have laid down concrete steps on how to solve this crisis,” said Carl Anthony Ala, public information officer of KMP.

“This target of 1 million signature is just the start because as we have observed when people see that the petition is against the unjust new taxes they are more than willing to sign and they even say that they will tell their families and friends to sign also. So the signatures may come to  millions, if we have enough paper,” ended Ala. # # #
 

KMP - 30 August 2004