Enough of impeachment, Mr. President!

By Ed Javier / Firebrand

IT is distressing to see the government’s single-minded obsession to remove Chief Justice Renato Corona from the Supreme Court relegating all the other pressing issues staring at us in the face to the back burner.

With the severe problems affecting the country today, like the soaring oil prices, for instance, concerned citizens think the government should be working double-time to come up with solutions to these problems.

With the cost of petroleum products now wreaking havoc on the household budget of ordinary consumers, we look to the government for leadership and ideas to ease our burdens but we find nothing there.

Instead, the Aquino administration seems to be fixated on the impeachment of Corona. Just listen to the President’s mouthpieces, err, spokesmen, talk at length about their up-to-the minute reactions to the latest developments in the impeachment trial as if it were the end-all and be-all of the duties and functions of government.

Meanwhile, the price of oil products continues its upward march almost on a weekly basis. The cost of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), a cooking-item staple in almost every Filipino household, has gone up to almost a thousand pesos per container. Fuel pump prices of gas and diesel are at an all-time high.

Beleaguered transport groups are increasingly restive and agitating for fare increases. If granted, a fare hike will likely set off a chain reaction. Prices of basic commodities will rise and labor groups are expected to follow with their own call for an increase in the daily minimum wage.

With the Department of Energy waving a white flag of surrender and saying it is helpless to do anything about the oil-price hikes dictated upon by the world market, has there been any action on the part of government to come up with strategies and safety nets to mitigate the burden to the public?

We hear reports of the implementation of the Pantawid Pasada program being delayed, and of public-utility vehicle drivers complaining about coming up empty when they try to use the cards issued by government for their fuel expenses.

Former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno has come up with a novel idea to reduce the value-added tax (VAT) on petroleum products. He suggests that the government can adopt a sliding rate for VAT every time the price of oil in the world market goes up to a certain level.

After all, the lone beneficiary from the increase in oil prices is the government, which finds its coffers getting fatter from the VAT windfall due to higher oil prices.

Diokno asserts that if the price reaches $120 per barrel, the VAT rate should go down to 10 percent from its present level of 12 percent. It can go further down to as low as 8 percent if the price of oil climbs to $140 to $150. This way, the burden of escalating world oil prices would be shared between government and the public.

However, this idea was immediately shot down by the Palace. According to Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda, “The windfall from VAT has a profound effect on the economy and in the various social programs that we have. Right now, we still have a deficit and so we need the windfall to make sure that we are able to fund our various projects.” And what about us taxpayers? Don’t we deserve a little respite from our misery? Deputy Spokesman Abigail Valte has this to say, “While government is committed to helping all its citizens, we have prioritized those sectors which need the most assistance.”

Never mind if the conditional-cash transfers (CCT) are reportedly being squandered by a number of beneficiaries and used to buy cigarettes, liquor and to bet on jueteng. Surely, we cannot begrudge these poor people who do not have to work in order to earn their keep.

Another aspect of governance that appears to be neglected is the peace and order situation in the country. Every day, we hear about grisly murders, robberies and rape-slays in the evening news occurring not just here in Metro Manila but in the entire country.

Recenly, there was the fatal stabbing of Ray Bernard Peñaranda, a 19-year-old student, and the rape and murder of a female sampaguita vendor in the vicinity of the University of the Philippines Los Baños. Last Friday a seven-year-old girl was raped and killed by pedicab drivers.

The victims of crimes are predominantly young children and teenagers. And what is even more disturbing is that the perpetrators are themselves young people. In fact, a new term has entered our wordbook to refer to this growing phenomenon of juvenile criminals: batang hamog.

The mounting crime rate appears to have a direct correlation with the rising incidence of poverty in the country. It is so much harder these days to cope with the higher cost of living and people have to resort to crime to make ends meet.

Is the police force inutile against the unabated crime wave gripping our nation? Can we even expect to be protected by our men in uniform? Just recently, a high-ranking police official was identified as the mastermind in a horrific crime involving the discovery of a decomposing body of a woman inside a septic tank in San Pedro, Laguna.

The sooner the impeachment process wraps up and comes to a final decision, the better for all of us. Too much time, money and effort has been spent by the officials of government on this issue to the detriment of the urgent needs of our country.

To paraphrase the popular anti-Marcos slogan that catapulted the first Aquino into office back in the 1980s: Tama na! Sobra na! Mag-trabaho na!