Palace: No crisis due to toll VAT, rail fares

Senator Joker Arroyo. INQUIRER file photo

Malacañang on Monday belied Senator Joker Arroyo’s claim that it risked fomenting a constitutional crisis with the tacking on of a 12-percent value-added tax (VAT) on expressway tolls and the withdrawal of the subsidy for mass transit in Metro Manila.

Secretary Edwin Lacierda, deputy presidential spokesperson, reminded Arroyo the Supreme Court had voted 13-0 to sustain the VAT on toll on the North Luzon and South Luzon expressways, hence, its implementation was not unconstitutional.

“How can the SC decision be classified as creating a constitutional crisis when the final arbiter of the law has made a definitive judgment on that? We don’t share the sentiment of the good senator,” Lacierda told a briefing. “That’s overstated,” he added.

Lacierda also defended the planned withdrawal of the government subsidy in the Metro Rail Transit and Light Rail Transit systems that would necessitate raising fares.

“Either we raise taxes to support the subsidy or reduce the subsidy. It’s a question of fiscal management,” he said.

“Senator Arroyo would be in agreement that if we raise the fares at the LRT, they should match bus fares but with the advantage of a shorter trip. That’s not unreasonable,” he said.

He added: “In the past we increased the fares of the MRT. Why is it an issue now and not an issue then? This is again a question of fiscal management. We are doing what we feel will be good for the entire Filipino people, not just a select few.”

Arroyo had said that both the Senate and the Supreme Court were opposed to the VAT on tolls and the subsidy withdrawal, and warned that the executive branch would be risking a constitutional crisis if it insisted on implementing them.

Thirteen senators had signed a resolution expressing their opposition to the imposition of 12-percent VAT on expressway tolls.

Meanwhile, Lacierda reiterated that Budget Secretary Florencio Abad was open to a dialogue with judiciary employees protesting the reduction of their 2012 budget.

“We maintain the position of the DBM. It’s always good to have a dialogue with the judiciary,” he said.