Senator Juan Miguel Zubiri decried on Wednesday the “horrendous” airfare ticket prices at least in the last two weeks.
Zubiri brought up the issue during the hearing of the Senate subcommittee on the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law when he mentioned that some resource persons from the Bangsamoro Transition Commission (BTC) had sought financial assistance from him just to attend the proceeding.
“Also to our friends in the BTC, I [commiserate] to your problem. Mr. Secretary wala pa palang pondo itong mga kaibigan natin, walang sweldo na ilang buwan na (Our friends have had no salary for months now, they have no funds). They’d been calling me to ask me for tickets to fly them here. Unfortunately, we don’t have the budget for that. Baka naman (Maybe) the Office of the President can help them with their budgeting,” he said.
Sen. Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri. Photo by INQUIRER.net/RYAN LEAGOGO
“Kawawa naman baka out of pocket na ‘yung mga pagpunta nila dito (It would be a shame if they pay for their transportation out of their own pockets), they come from Mindanao and…the tickets these last two weeks have been horrendous. Maybe the chairman of the ways and means committee can see how much money these airlines are actually making…” Zubiri said, referring to Senator Sonny Angara, who was also the hearing.
“Hindi naman tumaas ang presyo ng gasolina e, yung airline fuel (Gas prices and airline fuel prices haven’t gone up). But they are charging horrendous amounts on tickets,” the senator added.
Only on Tuesday, President Rodrigo Duterte signed into law the first package of the government’s comprehensive tax measure that would not only raise the workers’ take-home pay but would also impose new and additional taxes on petroleum products, mining, automobiles, coal, among others.
READ: Duterte signs P3.77-T 2018 national budget, tax reform law
Angara, as chair of the ways and means committee, spearheaded the passage of the measure in the Senate. /je