The militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) described as a mere band aid Rep. Joey Salceda’s proposed solution to the fiscal crisis. According to Danilo “Ka Daning” Ramos, secretary general of the group “Though we do agree that the fiscal crisis is indeed a cancer, and it needs radical solutions Rep. Salceda’s proposed solutions are really superficial and does not address the root cause of the problem. His notion that the crisis is just a revenue problem is really a wrong diagnosis of the crisis, the fiscal problem is a problem of policy,”

“Unless the anti-people policies of the government is changed then the fiscal crisis will persist and will only get worse which may lead to a full blown financial crisis. The proposals of Rep. Salceda may not only be a mere band aid but the wrong medicine all together, because it will only make the cancer worse,” added the peasant leader.

Salceda’s so-called solutions include; the indexation to inflation of sin-taxes, P2 per liter tax on petroleum, 2-step increase in the EVAT from 10%-14%, tariff adjustments (higher electricity rates), reduction of the IRA,cut in the pork barrel, credit upgrades and investments in basic infrastructure.

As for his part Carl Anthony Ala, public information of KMP “our proposed solutions to this fiscal crisis is that the first the policies of the government should be crafted for the interest of its constituents and not the IMF-WB nor big foreign and local corporations. As for how to address the current crisis then we should immediately impose a debt moratorium which should take effect immediately, we should also repudiate all onerous loans that the government or corporations has entered, like the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant, the salaries of workers should also be increased so as to increase their purchasing power and revitalize the economy, tax collection should at least be improved by 17% and tax evaders especially the big ones should be punished,”
 
“Our country is indeed under a lot of debt but the people are not the ones responsible for it and we are not the ones who should shoulder it. The administration should not try to hoodwink the populace and muddle the issue of who is responsible for this situation. What Salceda is doing, is to try force us to accept the lie that the situation is desperate and that we should accept it. He has become an apologist of the regime but is not interested in the interest of the citizens.  Our advice to Rep. Salceda is that, in issuing a diagnosis of a disease, one must look at all aspects of the illness and not issue rash conclusions,for in the end the patient, our country will be the one to suffer,” Ala ended. # # #
 

KMP - 13 September 2005