Senator Cynthia Villar is joined by her husband, former senator Manny Villar and daughter Camille (right and second from right) before filing her COC at the Comelec in Manila on Monday, Oct. 15, 2018. INQUIRER.NET
Senator Cynthia Villar said she did not regret signing the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) law, but added that she learned a lesson.
On Monday, she expressed confidence that signing the law, which is one of the factors being blamed for the rising inflation in the country, would not affect her candidacy as senator in the upcoming 2019 polls.
“It’s lesson learned. Anyway, in everything we do, we learn lessons,” she said in a press briefing, shortly after filing her certificate of candidacy at the headquarters of the Commission on Elections.
READ: Cynthia Villar files COC, wants Senate reelection in 2019
According to Villar, the senators who voted in favor of the law did not predict that traders would take advantage of Train law by further increasing the prices on goods.
“Mahirap na kasing magsalita ng nangyari na (It’s hard to speak if it has already happened). We will be guided in the future,” she added.
Villar denied that signing the Train law could negatively affect her chances in the 2019 elections, saying the public knew that the senators did not predict that the price of oil will also increase and that traders would take advantage of the said law.
She also blamed the rice cartels in the country for the rising prices of rice.
On Saturday, seventeen senators of the majority bloc, including Villar, asked President Rodrigo Duterte through a letter to suspend further increase in excise taxes on fuel.
Six opposition senators have also earlier filed a resolution to call for the suspension of the excise tax on fuel. /cbb, je