House bill seeks to set up banana research center

A Department of Science and Technology staff shows tissue cultured from varieties of wilt-resistant cavendish bananas. -- BW FILE PHOTO

A PARTY-LIST legislator has filed a bill seeking to establish a banana research institute to develop better planting methods and find new uses for the plant, one of the Philippines’ leading fruit exports.

Rep. Raymond C. Mendoza of TUCP Party list filed House Bill No. 2622, noting that the banana industry pays about P1.78 billion in local taxes a year and provides income opportunities for some 30,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries.

“The industry has become a potent instrument of development and empowerment for almost two million residents of Mindanao who depend on it… It is ironic that the strategic value of the industry was built with little or no assistance from government,” Mr. Mendoza said in his explanatory note.

The measure hopes to establish the National Research, Development and Extension Center for Banana at the University of Southeastern Philippines in Davao City.

The research center will develop improved cultivars through traditional and biotechnological methods; develop efficient, economic, and productive banana production technologies; develop effective and efficient production systems for all banana varieties; discover productive banana-based farming systems; establish international linkages for banana research; and provide training for workers and farmers.

The bill provides for tax and duty exemptions for the research center, including on imported machinery. — Vince Angelo C. Ferreras

Labor groups hail contributions of ex-Senate President Pimentel

Former Senate president Aquilino “ Nene” Pimentel Jr (Czar Dancel / MANILA BULLETIN FILE PHOTO)

Labor groups expressed their condolences to the family of former Senate President Aquilino “Nene” Pimentel Jr., who passed away Sunday morning.

The Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) said Pimentel was a “conscience of our nation and a tireless defender of democracy at a time when too many Filipinos chose the path of silence, acceptance, and obedience to the dark heart of a dictatorship.”

“His lifelong struggle for political democracy and economic democracy inspires the TUCP and the entire working class to never give up and to never surrender,” the group said.

The TUCP also cited Pimentel’s contribution as the latter authored the Local Government Code “to ensure genuine autonomy and self-direction for local governments.”

Pimentel also authored the Cooperative Code of the Philippines and the Charter of the Charter of the Cooperative Development Authority.

“This was meant to empower ordinary workers, farmers and fisherfolks by pooling their finance together to help each other free their class from economic exploitation by cartels, oligarchs, and the vested interests,” the group said.

The Federation of Free Workers (FFW) said that the late senator’s good deeds will remain to be emulated.

“FFW extends its prayers and condolences to the bereaved family of a good man,” it said.

“We note with sadness the death of a good man and workers’ companion in the struggle for social justice,” it added. - By Analou De Vera

TUCP: 700,000 workers in PHL may lose jobs due to CITIRA

JOB LOSSES? Citing estimates by business groups, labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines says some 700,000 workers may lose their jobs if the Citira bill is passed. File photos by AFP 

The livelihood of around 700,000 workers in the country will be imperiled by the proposed Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act (CITIRA) as it threatens to push investors to shut down and transfer to other countries, according to the labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) on Monday.

“Our economic managers are hell-bent in pushing thousands of workers and their families towards the fire by pushing the approval of the CITIRA without any credible job protection measures and believable safety nets for workers affected by the enforcement of this second tax reform package measure,” TUCP vice president Louie Corral said in a statement.

CITIRA, the second package of the Duterte administration's comprehensive tax reform program, seeks to reduce the corporate income tax (CIT) rates from the current 30% to 20% in 2029, on a staggered basis.

It also aims to foster a more competitive fiscal incentives system by making tax perks time-bound, transparent, targeted, and performance-based.

The DOF previously claimed that this measure would create 1.4 million jobs when passed into law.

Corral, however, slammed the DOF officials for allegedly spreading "half-truths" for the passage and approval of the CITIRA.

"They’re saying workers will be protected and new jobs will be created with CITIRA but if you take a closer look at the measure, these provisions are insubstantial and vague when it comes to protecting jobs and providing safety nets for workers,” said Corral, while noting that the proposed measure only provides P500 million annual budget for displaced workers.

He added that providing allowances to displaced workers for a period of three to six months, a proposal backed by Trade Secretary Ramon Lopez, is not a "sure-fire formula."

“The idea is devoid of sincerity and logic. We all know that with the kind of government bureaucracy that we have, workers would be unable to get anything. Tinanggalan na nga siya ng trabaho ng gobyerno pagkatapos siya pa ang magpapatunay na tinanggal siya sa trabaho para makakuha ng limos?" Corral said.

He underscored that ecozone workers who will likely be affected must be consulted regarding the matter.

On the other hand, the DOF previously claimed that the foreign investors were unfazed by the CITIRA.

"Despite the persistent fear-mongering activities of certain groups, the international investment community continues to signal its confidence in the policies of the Duterte administration and in the strength of the Philippine economy and its workforce, as illustrated by the surge in FDI [foreign direct investment] pledges in the year’s first semester,” Finance Undersecretary Karl Kendrick Chua had said.

“It goes to show that the noisy naysayers against the long-due efforts to reform the country’s convoluted corporate income tax system are mistaken,” he added.

Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) Director General Charito Plaza also expressed support to the measure.

Last month, the House of Representatives approved the CITIRA bill on its third and final reading. The Senate version is still undergoing deliberations. — By DONA MAGSINO, GMA News , LDF, GMA News

TUCP slams Finance for tax push

The labor group Trade Union Congress of the Philippines slammed the Department of Finance for pushing the Corporate Income Tax Incentives Reform Act without consulting the labor sector, saying more than 700,000 workers would be displaced if the new tax scheme should become a law.

“Our economic managers, led by the Finance department, is (sic) about to push thousands of workers to fall through the cracks by introducing Citira tax scheme in the same way they shove workers and their families’ throat with the TRAIN Law inflation with no consultations with grossly affected workers’ sector,” TUCP president Raymond Mendoza said in a statement.

Firms affected by the process may close down and transfer to another location or may be forced to cut jobs and displace around 703,000 workers.

The DOF is seeking Congress’ approval for the second package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program, known as the CITIRA bill.

The measure seeks to entice investors by lowering the corporate income tax to 20 percent from the current 30 percent by overhauling the tax incentives enjoyed by firms.

Citira is the renamed version of the Tax Reform for Attracting Better and High-Quality Opportunities bill that the House had passed in the previous 17th Congress.

The Trabaho bill, however, ran out of time in the Senate and had to be refiled in the 18th Congress.

The measure would also remove certain tax perks enjoyed by companies in the country.

The Citira bill retains the current incentives for two years, for investors to have enough time to adjust to the new tax scheme. Perks would also be targeted, time-bound, and transparent.

Though the measure allotted P500-million annual budget for grants and support programs of the Department of Labor and Employment for displaced workers in companies affected by the corporate income tax adjustments, the TUCP accused the DOF ignoring workers plight when it comes to the implementation of the law.

“Workers got nothing from TRAIN Law despite of the budget provisions it has for affected sector. Now our white-collared Finance people are again deliberately playing dice on the lives of workers and their families by dangling an annual budget provisions for displaced workers and by sugarcoating CITIRA with a million jobs it supposes to create,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza said the P500 million yearly budget for CITIRA-displaced workers is highly insufficient compared with the day-to-day expenses amid rising cost of living created by TRAIN Law.

“How did they arrive with the amount? How many firms would really be affected by CITIRA? How many workers would really be affected? What are these government programs that could save the thousands of displaced workers?” said Mendoza.

The TUCP is proposing a genuine transition program for displaced workers prior to the implementation of CITIRA and not after its implementation.

The group is asking the economic managers for labor consultations on CITIRA and on other programs and policy reforms affecting the labor sector. - Vito Barcelo