The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) lambasted Malacanang foronce again fooling the public this time on the Value Added Tax (VAT) issue. According to Ka Willy Marbella, spokesperson of the group, “at first presidential spokesperson Ignacio Bunye said that the VAT increase would not trigger a rise in prices of basic food items, now he is singing a different tune. Claiming that he never said that there would be no effect on prices, and what he supposedly said was that they will cushion the effects and minimize the impact as much as possible,”

“Gloria and her spokesperson should stop sweet talking the populace and say what really VAT is. It is an imposition of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since 1999 and it is being implemented now so that the government can borrow more funds but to the detriment of the buying public,” added Marbella.

“No sane individual can say that an increase in taxes would not result in price increases, that is inevitable. What the regime is trying to do is fool the people now, until the VAT law is approved then when the burden we are carrying gets heavier, it would just say that it is the law. Malacanang’ s tactical game plan is to have the VAT bill to be passed at the soonest time possible because it cannot hide its insidious effects any longer, so it has to resort to plain old lying and to play on semantics,” stressed the peasant leader.

“The domino effect of this bill on the prices on basic commodities can be catastrophic to the already hand to mouth existence of most of our country-men. It is not too late for Malacanang to back-track and to have the bill junked, but as can be seen from their words and actions the president is hell bent on further oppressing the poor,” explained Marbella.

“The VAT is a potential issue that can ignite public outrage against the regime that is lying through its teeth to have it passed. It must be warned though that the people are nearing their boiling point and another slip of Gloria and she would land in the dust bin of history,” ended Marbella. # # #
 

KMP - 30 January 2005