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Paying for Progress or Nothing

Journal 4: The Implications of Train Law to the Life of Juan Dela Cruz

I remember the Juan dela Cruz show that featured CoCo Martin as a kid, I always watched that show after school because he has this cool weapon that is a cross, he is half aswang that tries to kill evil monsters. But also, a model filipino citizen that has consciousness and feelings for other living things even if they are evil.

Why am I mentioning this? Well when it comes to an everyday filipino, there comes the time where we want to improve our everyday lives. That’s where taxes come in, we pay them in order to develop our government and revenue like good healthcare, education, and a lot more services to help the people.

Sounds like a good plan right? But somehow it isn’t. I mean, how does a filipino know that their money is in the right hands? How do we know that what they’re doing is for the benefit of our development? And how do we know that this won’t affect us badly in the end? When it comes to laws that changes to make somethings simpler, there won’t be any guarantee if those changes will be good or bad. But we still somehow try to give because if we didn’t, there wont be any change at all in our lives or worse we get in very bad trouble.

What do I Know? (Learning)

In the Philippines, there is a reform called the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or the Train Law signed by Rodrigo Duterte somewhere in 2017, which is also the first package of the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program or CTRP. This is basically where they improve revenue for government projects and services, trying to also make it simpler and fairer. But way back during Pre-Colonial times, this was religiously presented through a kind of offering called “alay” or “handog” to a Datu who is the barangay head. Then when the Spaniards came in, this tax system became a requirement that is called “tributo” or tribute which became a burden for filipino people to carry. After that, the Community Tax Certificate or what we call the Cedula was introduced, which the filipino people compelled to support because of the imperial government. Then when the Ferdinand Marcos Regime was happening, the commencement of the withholding tax by voluntary tax compliance program started. And now, we have technology like E-Vats and EPFS to make it easier for use in modernization.

Besides increasing revenue and making it simpler and fairer, this law aims to be more efficient to create jobs, reduce poverty, and promote investments. TRAIN gives out big income tax cuts for Filipino taxpayers while raising additional funds to support the accelerated spending on infrastructure and service programs. This also focuses on income brackets and personal and excise tax rates, as well as value-added tax coverage. Which pays off many things like sugary beverages like cokes and juices, petroleum products such as gasoline and jet fuels, automobiles, and fossil fuels.

Besides all of the projects, services, and products, how does it benefit the people? Well theres many benefits for everyone.

For people who have a job that pays below ₱250,000 annually will be exempted to pay income tax, to support low income earners by increasing disposable income. For those who earn above ₱250,000, they will pay brackets of 15% to 30% of the excess that they earned which tries to lessen the tax burden or middle income earners while reassuring that people with higher income contributes more percentage of their earnings.

For the many filipinos take-home pay, the individuals who have lower-income have resulted an increase for their net income making their purchasing power increase. Although for higher income earners, they get a decrease of their take-home pay because of the tax brackets. Other benefits for the TRAIN Law are higher tax-exempt bonuses, simplified estate tax, and expanded VAT exemption.

What did I Find? (Observation)

Of course like every law we have implemented, it will always have its negatives. Sure, all of these things about the TRAIN Law sound really great, but were those promises that they said kept? And did this Law really helped the workers, especially the ones who get low income? I mean that’s what it’s aiming for.

Before implementing this law, many theorized that there will be an increase of oil prices and would have a bad effect that would lead to increase on goods and services, especially the delicious sugary drinks, making it bad for consumers especially the lower class. And why is this happening? Because of inflation. Since all of these changes for increasing income and take-home pay, it also has a price that is higher for them to pay off.

This also makes inequality to both poor and rich since a lot of the good stuff are bought by the high incomers since they can afford while the people who have low income can’t even afford the essentials that they really needed for their job like jeepney drivers and taxi drivers who have to pay oil to make their vehicles working. And when things are that highly taxed to get, it makes the main problem that the law was trying to reduce which is poverty.

What do I Think? (Insights)

I had no idea about taxes until now. Sure I’ve heard adults saying that adulting involves taxes which they never tell us what it is actually for. I always thought it was some kind of play money, which is kinda ironically what they’re to our money anyways. But I will say that this TRAIN Law would’ve been better if the things that its says that they would be doing worked. The TRAIN Law is already a train wreck to begin with since this is one of the causes on why inflation has increased in this country. They have been arguing with this back and forth

Sure, this law adjusted the income bracket for individual Filipinos but at what cause? Making things that we enjoy and need high to pay? Making the gap for the poor and rich? Also those aren’t the only things that individuals have to worry about paying for, how about those personal needs like rent, food, water, groceries, and other things? And of course those things will have their prices increased because of our friend, inflation.

To add, a lot of people might not be even aware of these changes of what this law does. Yes, there are seminars from organizations that are willing to teach people how this law does things but that doesn’t really fix the problems that we are facing. Every scenario is different for every Juan or Julianna dela Cruz, and thats why people who are highly affected by this are against it.

Taxation is one of the resilient power that the government has since they involve dictating and manipulating economic growth. The government really relies on taxes to give financial measures to carry its operations and also promoting general welfare. But this makes also the never ending problem of corruption, and that is no stranger to us in the Philippines. And since we have seen these kinds of problems happen before and with that in mind, people don’t really trust this system because of it’s malpractices.

This would’ve still worked if the law just made the taxes for of these products fair for everyone and affordable services like healthcare, education, transportation, and other services that would’ve helped the people. They had an opportunity to make something out of this law because this country is so buried with debt and many or even all of us have to pay for that mistake, but they just keep throwing it over and over again to the point where it makes it worse for all of us.

When I came in to Manila, I expected so many things to be in higher prices because its the city life. And I have lived in the province my whole entire life, and so paying a bottle of water for about ₱40 is shocking to me because isn’t that suppose to be essential? And even the food that is as simple as cafeteria food is something that I am really worried for since those are pricey as well.

Progress is impossible without any changes to the status quo. And increasing something doesn’t mean it’s improving progress because a lot of the time it will just decrease like an ice cube under the hot sun.

REFERENCES:

All aboard: Revisiting TRAIN’s impact on individuals. (2024, August 26). Grant Thornton Philippines. https://www.grantthornton.com.ph/insights/articles-and-updates1/lets-talk-tax/all-aboard-revisiting-trains-impact-on-individuals/

IBON Foundation. (2016, September 3). TAX GANERN! DOF’s tax reforms tax the poor and relieve the rich (Part 2). https://www.ibon.org/tax-ganern-dofs-tax-reforms-tax-the-poor-and-relieve-the-rich-2/

Revisiting the TRAIN Law. (2019, January 15). Grant Thornton Philippines. https://www.grantthornton.com.ph/insights/articles-and-updates1/lets-talk-tax/revisiting-the-train-law/

https://pidswebs.pids.gov.ph/CDN/PUBLICATIONS/pidspn1911.pdf

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/319078695_Unveiling_the_Salient_Features_and_Development_of_Taxation_in_Philippine_History

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The Right to Change

Journal 3: Charter Change

Since the Philippine 2025 Election is getting closer, I think the topic of Charter Change is something worth knowing. When it comes to leaders, people have the power to pick which one is the best one for the majority. Or do they? When it comes to amending or modifying the constitution, there has seem to be a lot of changes in order to make it suitable for everyone.

From citizens human rights to how to handling the government until making and implementing laws, these are worth noting because not only will this affect people but also the entire country and as a society.

What Do I Know? (Learning)

Charter Change or Cha-Cha but also called Constitutional Reform is where they refine or amend the constitution. So far in the Philippines, we have been following the 1987 Philippine Constitution which is democratic and republican separating powers from the legislative, executive, and judicial branches. We also are in a Unitary Government, which means that we only have one level of government and one set of uniform law for the country. Just like here in the Philippines where Luzon, Visayas, and Mindanao will follow one government and a set of law and not separate states like in the United States.

There are three methods of Cha-cha, which are:

1.) At least 12% of registered voters in people’s initiative, where 3% of voters for every legislative district is represented sign, sign a petition

2.) The Congress makes a constituent assembly where a vote upon 3/4 of its members proposes revisions or amendments

3.) Delegates makes a constitutional convention which appointed or elected delegates meet the proposed revisions or amendments

But how does one become a delegate or a representative? Here in the Philippines, the person must be of course a natural Filipino citizen, someone who has a college degree, 25 years old, and a registered voter and a resident in the district where they shall be elected. Their salary is somewhere at ₱10,000 for attending everyday, but not including the travel and accommodation allowance.

What did I Find? (Observation)

In my survey, I put there 5 questions that I’m really curious about from the people that will be answering it:

First question was if they know about the proposed changes in the constitution so far. I asked this question because I know that lots of people aren’t aware on what has been happening to the constitution in the past year.

One person answered no since they haven’t heard much information from the Constitution that was published, 2 people said something about the pushing Charter Change, and the other 2 put the specific proposals like foreign investments, higher education, advertising, changing to a federal system, and also lessening political dynasties and empowering local governments.

Second question is if they support the proposed constitution, which I let them explain their answer. I was very curious if they were supporting any of the changes that were made, either it was good for the majority or not.

One gave a straight no because of how it affects local businesses, one answered yes since they are open to change, but 3 of them have mixed answers where they put conditions like if the country benefits from it or depends on other peoples perspectives.

The third question is that if they are satisfied with the way they handle the proposed changes of the constitution. If they support the changes, I was wondering if they were satisfied with how they implement the changes because that really shapes our country.

A lot of them said no because of many reasons. But what I’ve seen from the answers is that because the people are not transparent enough with the process and the public consultation and say that it felt rushed. Another said that they planned it well but wasn’t satisfied on who is leading it. And the rest just answered no.

The fourth question is that if they were to amend the constitution, what should it be and then their explanation.

One answered no with their reason that if its still working then theres not need to change it. But the rest answered with many things that they want to change from mentioning human rights, equality, climate change, until improving checks and balances.

The last question I have given them was how the constitution will shape the future. If this constitution is really as a good plan as it is, could it help in the next further generation? That was generally what I thought when putting this question.

One said that if they follow and abide the rules then that makes a difference for the country. Other people say that change is involved and don’t know what will happen. The rest say that it’s the foundation for the government and could promote balanced development, better international relations, and stronger local governance.

What do I think? (Insights)

When I started looking into this topic, I had no idea what this is and even the constitution. And I’ve wondered why this is and why I have never seen this. Well, its because Bong Bong Marcos said it’s not a priority. He stated that there are lot more problems to worry about and there are many things done and they can do it without changing the constitution. That’s probably why I haven’t really seen anything published about it, we’ve only seen the branches of it which is Executive, Legislative, and Judicial and all of these three have 33.33% of power so no one can go over on each other since they have the same percentage.

But from what BBM said, is it really not a priority? I mean, the Constitution has the higher law where they can allow and limit of what the government can do to its people. They can implement any policies they can create and pit down loss of civil liberties for people to be satisfied about. Giving the government the power to do what it wants to the people, either good or bad. And if we violate them, we’ll be all over the place just like now. People have the power to choose who can lead the country to have some kind of benefit even if it’s small, but then they’re just getting nitpicked by the government. Digging the hole of the problem further from what we have in the beginning. Even Duterte wanted to change it because the government really doesn’t care about the other places like Mindanao, which didn’t progress at all.

So why is it not a priority? The constitution is literally our basis on how we can create the government more fair and equal to the ones who are empowered and the ones who are under it which is the citizens. That’s why it’s important for this to be transparent to the people and make them take responsibility and accountability on what’s going to happen either if theres a result or not. Sure, we have so many problems in the world that are probably important than this, but we could probably fix those problems when we have a framework of the constitution. Thats why we are slow in developing and progressing as a country and also a society, because we have no idea what’s going to happen causing us to be afraid. And same as the people who have the power, if they abide by these changes of the constitution they will afraid that their power will be taken away.

When I was finding my respondents, it was hard. I gave this survey to at least 10-20 people and of my friends to pass out. And most of those people don’t know the constitution at all, which is really sad. I didn’t force them to answer if they don’t know about it because that’s not what I need for the survey. That’s why a change is needed so that people can be aware of whats happening. Thats why the Cha-Cha exists because of the problems that aren’t changing at all should be changed and answered. They say that we can do it, but when exactly? Why not now when we needed it most? Why continue with the same plan over and over again when we can do something about it?

The 2025 election will be coming and we have the power to change this place into something that we haven’t seen in years, good progress. So choose wisely and don’t forget that its not only you who will be blamed, but everyone in the end.

REFERENCES:

De Leon, D. (2023b, February 27). FAST FACTS: What does the House bill on charter change contain? RAPPLER. https://www.rappler.com/philippines/things-to-know-key-provisions-house-bill-charter-change/#state=06750ac2-9b49-45e5-8255-955a453a5167&session_state=854fdc6b-af9f-4f67-bb38-f1850118b42c&iss=https%3A%2F%2Fsso.rappler.com%2Frealms%2Frappler&code=cef0c275-8a93-4a48-8f6b-856527e267ee.854fdc6b-af9f-4f67-bb38-f1850118b42c.7e8dfd45-11ab-4d4c-9b62-564719b215c7

De Leon, D. (2023, February 21). House panel votes yes to charter change via constitutional convention. RAPPLER. https://www.rappler.com/philippines/house-representatives-committee-votes-yes-charter-change-constitutional-convention-february-20-2023/

Tomacruz, S. (2023, February 13). Marcos: Charter change ‘not a priority.’ RAPPLER. https://www.rappler.com/nation/ferdinand-marcos-jr-charter-change-not-priority/

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Farmhand or Machinery

Journal 2: Agrarian Reform vs Industrialization

This topic of the Agrarian Reform is really important to me because I have lived in the province for my whole entire life, the fresh air, great view, and of course the farm life. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else other than my home town, but it doesn’t mean it will stay like that forever sadly. Of course there will be changes sooner or later. But when the changes are big, the people will have to live with it.

Thats why talking about the Agrarian Reform is something worth looking because it involves people with those changes, especially the people in the lower class. But also this can affect the economy for resource of food.

What Do I Know? (Learning)

In the Philippines, the Comprehensive Agrarian Reform Program (CARP) is where they give land ownership to farmers, especially from the counrtyside, to tilt on so that we can make production and productivity in increasing agriculture, giving job opportunities, and also stop problems that involves land owning. The key national goals from the government for carp is to promote equity and social justice, food security, and poverty alleviation in the rural areas. Basically it works by getting a certificate for land ownership and then the Land owners are allowed to get a certain amount of land regardless of what the size of the original landholding is.

This happened way back in the Pre-Spanish Era where everyone had access to the fruits of soil despite their different classes in the social structures in a quote “This Land is Ours God gave us this land.” Then as time went on, there were many legislations and laws were enacted and many systems are made. Now in 2016 to present, President Duterte went through and ‘aggressive’ land reform programs and directed to launch the Department of Agrarian Reform (DAR), which is the 2nd phase of the Agrarian Reform where farmers would be given with undistributed lands.

DAR aims to lead an agency that basically puts and supports a genuine and comprehensive agrarian reform giving equal land distribution, ownership, productivity and security for the famers to improve their quality of life to national industrialization and rural development, but also just to bring a safe and equal society that sustains farmer’s right to control, secure, own, cultivate, and enhance their lands.

Now, how about industrialization? As we all know, this means that basically transitioning or changing from rural ways to making it industrial or like farmers to factory workers, from doing it by hand to letting technology doing it instead. This makes production of things faster, making more job opportunities for people, and also helping the economy grow and develop thanks to the increasing efficiency and productivity making goods and services have great availability and stability in the long run.

What did I find? (Observation)

Everything that I mentioned so far about CARP and Industrialization has been good so far, having equality of farmland and having machines help out as well what could go wrong? Of course there will be something negative and challenging in order to get to the goal of CARP and getting through industrialization as well.

Lets start with CARP:

Everything about this program has lead to people having hope of their hopeless and poor lifestyle. Question is, did anybody care to even look into this program? Did anyone pay attention to its mission and vision in order to give farmers their wants and needs to improve their agriculture and lifestyle in order to keep up with society? At most cases, probably not.

Of course in order for this to work out, people of power like government agencies, landowners, and society need to participate so that we can start. Sadly, not a lot of those people really want to focus on this.

For example, former President Cory Aquino did know how vital this reform is as a development strategy for the country’s rehabilitation, also going to say that her land reform program as a breakthrough in fixing agrarian injustices and also revolutionary. This also made people in Negros saying that President Aquino is their ‘last hope’ for a peaceful agrarian reform. But sadly that hope didn’t really come to be since Aquino barely had an opportunity to do the reform for the rural areas because she enjoyed big popular support like the middle class. She does have the power to do these things, but she just went off and gave it to the Congress to decide on whats going to happen with the program. This of course resulted into people getting disappointed with CARP because of how disabled and conservative it ended up of what civil society actors and stakeholders had clamored for.

This also doesn’t help the relationship with the landowners and farmers since they fight over hectares of the land even though its the governments is reliable to give out of what is given in the first place, making the system lacking for a durable and reliable system of land ownership registration. And when they don’t give you the proper registration documents, how is it possible for the government going to ask the landowners to pay taxes if they don’t know how much they own to begin with?

Now with DAR by the Aquinos, there were frequent land scams sadly because of voluntary offer-to-sell used by Secretary Philip Juico instead of doing a necessary way of land transfer. And what did DAR officials do about this? Well of course they deny their actions and use rationalizing the farmers beneficiaries thats they couldn’t have payed the price as an excuse. Imagine purchasing the land so that you can help the farmers and earn something, with a good deal as well but then met with paying something bigger than that? Thats really messed up.

Lets now talk about industrialization:

When I said that industrialization gives good job opportunities to the people who need it, thats true. It might also help them enhance their life quality. Now the question is, can they really do their job as an industrial worker? Remember they live in rural areas where most often have less or no education thats stable, so they might not even know how to work with the machines that they have in factories.

Sure let’s say that we can teach these landless farmers on how to do the machines and do the working around the places, but how long will that take? How about the ones who couldn’t get in because of how bad they are at doing the job? Where will they be by then?

Another thing to note is that how long will they actually stay in that particular place that they’re working at? One of the issues that I notice from the Agrarian Reform and Industrialization is the land itself. Industrialization tends to overcrowd areas like in cities and towns, to the point where they would try to use farming lands in rural areas because 1.) it tends to be cheaper and. 2.) its pretty much a free land for them that they can use whenever they want. Thats why the Agrarian reform became a thing so that the farmers and landowners can have equal rights to the land that they work on.

What do I think? (Insights)

Now with all that is said, do we continue the Agrarian Reform or should we be using industrialization going forward? For me, both can be interconnected in a way. For example there is something called rural industrialization, where it basically shifting the economic activity beyond the traditional agricultural and looking into industries like services and manufacturing in rural settings. Ithas the same effects like job opportunities and economic growth but this also includes regional development and increasing the income of those people in those areas as well.

But that doesn’t really change what the Agrarian Reform is aiming for, social equality and justice to both farmers and landowners. So I think this program is really important because if this hasn’t been implemented, there would’ve been a lot more massacres and fighting between these two. Which kinda defeats the purpose of being people and the program itself. The Agrarian Reform is needed to get back peace and order of the society which gives a path to spontaneous endeavors for growth, especially in these rural areas. I think it just really went wrong because no one really gives a glance or care about this, thats why some people are easy to think that making buildings and factories to these rural areas because they just only want to get and see the big pay than the people who have already grown and taken care of their own land. And if no one cares enough, how do you think people, especially the lower class, will increase their economy if there was no structure at all? The Philippines are Bio rich and the 5th most mineralized country in the world, but we still have alot of problems like our food security that is affected by this. It’s just dissapointing.

For stability of production and good jobs, industrialization would surely be a good choice for those people thats really no doubt in my mind. But when people are involved into something that is supposed to be their hope for their future and their family’s future but then end up getting nothing but getting ignored and passed by to the point where people get hurt and then excuse their actions because of the power they have against these people, I don’t think that makes it helpful anymore. Thats why this program exists because it’s supposed to create peace for everyone, for people, the economy, and agriculture. If I think of a way to make for both Agrarian Reform and Industrialization better, just help the farmers and give them their rights to own the land and get what they deserve afterwards.

Farmers or people who live in rural places are as important as the people working industrially. They work as hard as all of us, but sadly they don’t earn as much as they deserve. To add, they literally have to fight or even pay to get back on the land and on to the job while they have families that they need to feed. If we can just give the people that really need it, the lands that we use to call rural and the people that we use to look down on we will eventually see on the top once we go down.

REFERENCES:

Bacurin, S. (2022, January 7). The Way Forward: Agrarian Reform versus Industrialization. Medium. https://csb-szabacurin.medium.com/the-way-forward-agrarian-reform-versus-industrialization-23cc9fd15356

CARP did more harm than good to farm sector, says economist. (n.d.). https://www.pids.gov.ph/details/carp-did-more-harm-than-good-to-farm-sector-says-economist

Impact of access to land on food security and poverty: the case of Philippine agrarian reform[11] - E.A. Guardian. (n.d.). https://www.fao.org/4/j0415t/j0415t08.htm

Rafferty, & P, J. (n.d.). The rise of the Machines: Pros and Cons of the Industrial Revolution. Encyclopedia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/story/the-rise-of-the-machines-pros-and-cons-of-the-industrial-revolution