Train effect: DTI dared to prove prices won’t rise much

Sen. Franklin Drilon (File photo by GRIG C. MONTEGRANDE / Philippine Daily Inquirer)

Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon challenged the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) on Sunday to prove its claim that price increases to be caused by new taxes would be “minimal.”

“The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Let’s see,” Drilon said in a radio interview after the DTI claimed the new taxes that took effect on Jan. 1 would only be minimal.

Only the day before, leftist congressmen said they would challenge the newly enacted Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) law before the Supreme Court next week.

The congressmen claimed the law was passed illegally because there was no quorum when the House of Representatives passed the bill one late December night with barely 10 people on the floor.

But Malacañang said the Duterte administration could defend the TRAIN Act and it was confident that the high court would uphold its legality.

‘Constitutionality’

“Taxation is one of the three inherent powers of a state. Hence, it enjoys overwhelming presumption of constitutionality,” said presidential spokesperson Harry Roque.

Both Drilon and Sen. Win Gatchalian said prices would be difficult to control especially since new excise taxes on petroleum products had also taken effect.

Gatchalian, in the same radio interview, said the DTI should be able to ensure that oil companies do not increase prices before their old stocks were used up by the second week of January.

To ensure that oil companies are transparent in their importations and sales, Gatchalian, who chairs the Senate committee on energy, said he would hold a meeting of the energy oversight committee every month to monitor prices.

‘Critical time’

“We have to monitor the movement of prices in petroleum, especially because this is a critical time when the excise taxes are in effect and we don’t want businessmen and petroleum companies to take advantage,” Gatchalian said.

ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio claimed Deputy Speaker Raneo Abu, who presided over the session, hurriedly declared its ratification, ignoring Tinio’s repeated objections.

The congressmen and economists also slammed the new taxes as regressive since it imposed a new tax burden on poor people who could least afford it. —With a report from Philip C. Tubeza