Caritas Philippines backs higher taxes for luxury goods

Luxuries are “unnecessary” and those who can afford them “will be less affected by the increased costs,” said Bishop Bagaforo of Caritas Philippines

LiCAS News
January 30, 2023

Civil society groups hold a demonstration in front of the Department of Finance office in Manila on Sept. 23, 2022, as part of the Asian Days of Action on Tax. (Photo by Elmer Valenzuela)

The social action arm of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines has expressed support for the proposal to impose higher taxes on luxury goods.

“Higher taxes on luxury items can generate revenue without unduly affecting low-income individuals,” said Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo of Kidapawan, national director of Caritas Philippines.

“These luxuries are also unnecessary, those who can afford them will be less affected by the increased costs,” said the prelate in an interview over Radio Veritas 846.

He said higher tariffs can also “reduce income inequality and provide more funding for government programs and services,” such as state health facilities, farm-to-market roads, and classrooms.”

Rep. Joey Salceda of Albay, an economist, has earlier said that the imposition of taxes on luxury goods is being studied in Congress amid calls to impose higher taxes on the super rich.

The legislator said at least PhP12.4 billion worth of taxes are expected to be generated by the proposal to tax luxury items including cars priced above PhP5 million, beverages above PhP20,000 per bottle, and leather goods worth more than PhP50,000 per unit.

Independent advocacy group IBON Foundation, however, said that while higher taxes on luxury goods is desirable, it cannot be a substitute for a wealth tax, which could raise more revenues for social and economic development.

IBON argued that a luxury tax is an attempt to distract the public from the urgency and necessity of taxing the wealth of the country’s few billionaires.

It said that a wealth tax can generate way more revenues of about PhP468.8 billion annually. This will come from close to 3,000 billionaires in the country who collectively have P8.2 trillion in wealth, IBON said.

Based on IBON’s longtime proposal, there will be a graduated wealth tax of one percent on wealth above PhP1 billion, two percent on over PhP2 billion, and three percent for more than P3 billion.

The group maintained that the proposed tax on luxury consumption goods generates negligible revenues compared to a billionaire wealth tax.

IBON said that the wealth tax is a more effective way to raise revenues for promoting social and economic development and is likewise a social justice measure that redistributes wealth even if only incrementally.

For his part, Father Antonio Labiao Jr., executive director of Caritas Philippines, stressed the need for transparency “about how taxes are collected and used.”

The priest said Filipinos should have access to information on the taxes they are paying. “Additionally, taxes must be used to fund programs and services that are responsive to the basic needs of the citizens,” he said.

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Pope Francis decries culture that ‘throws away’ unborn children, elderly, poor

Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace, the pope noted that the “throwaway culture” is predominant in more affluent societies

Catholic News Agency
January 30, 2023

In his Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis decried a culture that “throws away” unborn children, the elderly, and the poor if they are not useful.

“The throwaway culture says, ‘I use you as much as I need you. When I am not interested in you anymore, or you are in my way, I throw you out.’ It is especially the weakest who are treated this way — unborn children, the elderly, the needy, and the disadvantaged,” Pope Francis said on Jan. 29.

“But people are never to be thrown out. The disadvantaged cannot be thrown away. Every person is a sacred and unique gift, no matter what their age or condition is. Let us always respect and promote life! Let us not throw life away.”

Speaking from the window of the Apostolic Palace, the pope noted that the “throwaway culture” is predominant in more affluent societies.

“It is a fact that about one-third of total food production goes to waste in the world each year, while so many die of hunger,” he said.

“Nature’s resources cannot be used like this. Goods should be taken care of and shared in such a way that no one lacks what is necessary. Rather than waste what we have, let us disseminate an ecology of justice and charity, of sharing.”

Pope Francis underlined that Jesus’ call in the beatitudes to be “poor in spirit” includes the “desire that no gift should go to waste.” He said that this includes not wasting “the gift that we are.”

“Each one of us is a good, independent of the gifts we have. Every woman, every man, is rich not only in talents but in dignity. He or she is loved by God, is valuable, is precious,” he said.

“Jesus reminds us that we are blessed not for what we have, but for who we are.”

A small stage was set up in St. Peter’s Square ahead of the pope’s Angelus address where young people gathered with balloons and banners singing hymns as part of Catholic Action’s “Caravan of Peace.”

At the end of the Angelus, a young boy and girl in blue sweatshirts joined Pope Francis in the window of the Apostolic Palace and read aloud a letter sharing their commitment to peace.

A young boy and girl in blue sweatshirts joined Pope Francis in the window of the Apostolic Palace and read aloud a letter sharing their efforts as part of Catholic Action’s “Caravan of Peace.” (Vatican Media)

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[OPINION] Onions and an economy of exclusion

Most Rev. Gerardo Alminaza is the Bishop of the Diocese of San Carlos and chairperson of Church People-Workers Solidarity (CWS).

By Bishop Gerardo A. Alminaza

January 23, 2023
Manila, Philippines

What does it say about our society when the economy is up, but wages remain stagnant, prices are increasing, and the poor remain poor?

Last January 13, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno reported that the Philippine economy grew by 7.5% in 2022, and is expected to grow by 6.5% this 2023, a projection touted by President Marcos during the World Economic Forum just this week.

Similarly, this week, the price of a kilogram of onions reached 800 pesos. While the increase in the commodity’s price seems comical, its implications are not. Several farmers have already expressed frustration over their losses despite the increase in onion prices, with at least five farmers reportedly killing themselves because of it. The same farmers express concern over the plans to import more onions outside the country in order to decrease onion prices, even as reports of smugglers and hoarders in the onion trade have abounded.

Onions are just among the many basic commodities whose prices have soared in the past few months. Just last month, economists noted that inflation rose to more than 8%, the highest it has been for 14 years. By this week, diesel will have seen a 0.50 peso-per-liter increase while gas will also increase by 0.95 peso-per-liter. Because of this level of inflation, while economic experts from Mercer forecast an increase of 5.5% in employee salaries this year, they also admit that no real wage increase will be happening.

On paper, it seems as if the economy is doing just fine, so fine that the President – in the middle of rising prices back home – can confidently speak on it in a Forum of billionaires abroad. It is certainly the right audience, as according to Oxfam in a report released this week, the number of those worth $5 million (P278.24 million) and above has increased by almost half or 43.5% since 2012. According to the same report, some $26 trillion or 63 percent out of all new wealth worth $42 trillion was captured by the richest 1% while $16 trillion or 37% went to the rest of the world.

In the Philippines, Oxfam reported that the top nine richest Filipinos have more wealth compared to 55 million or half of the entire Philippine population. This is interesting to put side-by-side with the report by Forbes that the collective wealth of the 50 richest Filipinos decreased from $79 billion to $72 billion “amid the country’s recovery from pandemic headwinds.”

Thus, the question at the beginning of this article. What does it say about our society when we celebrate economic growth when we know that life is getting harder for our impoverished neighbors? What does it mean when the rich not only get richer, but are most profitable during times of crisis, such that their riches lessen as the rest of society recovers? The answer is simple: that Pope Francis was right. We are living in an economy of exclusion.

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Who are the two Filipinos installed by Pope Francis as catechists?

The pope formally instituted the ministry of catechist in 2021 following his decision to open the ministries of lector and acolyte to women

CBCP News
January 25, 2023

Who are the two Filipinos installed by Pope Francis early this week to the ministry of the catechists?

They are Leon Asuncion and Norma Ramos of the Catechetical Foundation of the Archdiocese of Manila (CFAM).

Asuncion, 55, is from St. John the Baptist Parish in San Juan City, where he had been serving as Extraordinary Minister of the Holy Communion.

Blessed with four children, he and his wife, Juliefer, are also members of the Couples for Christ since 2008.

Asuncion’s involvement with CFAM started in 1992, when he served as catechist until 2000.

He also served through the years as CFAM’s area coordinator, ministry assistant for research and development, and human resource development officer.

Since 2019, Asuncion has been serving as CFAM’s catechetical coordinator.

Ramos, meanwhile, is a catechist from St. John Bosco Parish in Manila’s Tondo district and a volunteer servant of the The Lord’s Flock Catholic Charismatic Community.

She has been head catechist of CFAM since 2009.

The 57-year old also anchors Radio Veritas’ “Katekesis Like Ko To” program.

Pope Francis celebrated the fourth annual “Sunday of the Word of God” on January 22 and conferred the ministries of lector and catechist on ten lay people, including the two Filipinos.

The celebration took place in St. Peter’s Basilica, where the pope installed new catechists — four men and six women — from the Philippines, Italy, Congo, Mexico and the UK.

The pope formally instituted the ministry of catechist in 2021 following his decision to open the ministries of lector and acolyte to women.

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Invitation to Ecumenical Solidarity Gathering for Victims of Trade Union Repression

Dear fellow labor rights defenders,

Greetings of peace and solidarity!

The long-awaited International Labor Organization (ILO) High-Level Tripartite Mission (ILO-HLTM) to the Philippines is finally happening this January 2023. Representatives of governments, employers and workers from the ILO will visit PH this coming January 23 -26, 2023 to investigate the reported alarming state of freedom of association in the country. 

The Philippines has consistently ranked poorly in the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Global Rights Index, listing it as one of the 10 Worst Countries for workers, in the past six (6) years citing that trade unionists and labor rights advocates are being killed to silence them, preventing them from organizing and pushing for the welfare of the workers.

Meanwhile, the Center for Trade Union and Human Rights (CTUHR) has documented 56 victims of killings among workers, unionists and labor rights defenders. 27 unionists and labor organizers also remain in detention for trumped-up cases and planted evidence. Thousands of unionists fear for their safety due to continuous red-tagging, harassment and intimidation perpetrated by the NTF-ELCAC. Unionists, organizers and rights defenders are continuously being hounded in their homes and workplaces to force them to disaffiliate from their unions/organizations.

Various policies have been used against the people and led to further shrinking of our democratic space such as the Martial Law in Mindanao, Executive Order 70 that led to the creation of the NTF-ELCAC, the Joint Industrial Peace Concerns Office (JIPCO) and the Anti-Terrorism Law.

In this regard, the Church People Workers Solidarity (CWS), United Labor, Citizens Rights Watch Network (CRWN) and the Labor Rights Defenders Network (LARD-Net) join unionists, workers and rights defenders in its efforts in intensifying our campaign against violations of labor and human rights in the Philippines and in calling for justice and accountability.

We invite you to join us in an Ecumenical Solidarity Gathering for the Victims of Trade Union Repression on January 20, 2023 at Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) Conference Hall (Taft, Manila), 3:00 in the afternoon.  Together, let us pray that this mission be successful and instrumental in achieving justice for all victims of workers’ and human rights violations and in forging a more democratic space for Filipinos to be able to fully enjoy their rights and realize dignity at work.  

Yours truly,

(Sgd)

Most Rev. Gerardo Alminaza
Co-Chairperson, CWS		Atty. Sonny Matula
Co-Convenor, United Labor
Lean Porquia
Lead Convenor, CWS		Kamz Deligente
Co-Convenor, LARD Net

Balanga diocese reiterates opposition to revival of nuclear plant

“We don’t want our sea to be uninhabitable to marine life, resulting in the disruption of our ecosystem”

LiCAS News
January 17, 2023

Bataan Nuclear Power Plant in Morong, Bataan. FILE PHOTO

The Catholice Diocese of Balanga vowed to continue its fight against plans to revive the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP).

“We don’t want to put life on the brink of danger, in the shadow of impending death, and in a future with no certainty of goodness, safety, and beauty,” said Bishop Ruperto Santos in a pastoral letter.

“We acted then and will continue to act today. We are against it. Stop it. Enough. We do not agree. We are against any ideas or plans for the rehabilitation of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant,” added the prelate.

“The Diocese of Balanga objects and it cannot be changed. Life is more important to us than profit or money from low-cost electricity or just to satisfy someone’s personal selfish motives,” he said.

The House Special Committee on Nuclear Energy has begun talks on the development of nuclear power, including the possible revival of the Bataan plant, to fix power shortage.

The diocese maintains that nuclear energy remains a high-risk technology, will be harmful to the environment, and the amount of waste it will produce “will be tremendous and so does the cost to dispose it.”

“We don’t want to put life on the brink of danger, in the shadow of impending death, and in a future with no certainty of goodness, safety, and beauty,” Bishop Santos said.

“We don’t want our sea to be uninhabitable to marine life, resulting in the disruption of our ecosystem. We don’t want our soil to be poisoned and no longer viable to be cultivated. We don’t want our livelihoods to be destroyed,” he said.

The late former president Ferdinand Marcos Sr ordered construction of the 620-megawatt nuclear facility in the 1970s.

Beset with safety concerns and corruption allegations, the project was mothballed after Marcos was ousted in 1986 and in the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

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Caritas Philippines calls for more gov’t support for onion farmers

“The government should provide financial incentives or subsidies to help our farmers grow more onions and lower the cost of production”

CBCP News
January 17, 2023

A group of women farmers and their supporters under the Amihan National Federation of Peasant Women stage a demonstration outside the main office of the Department of Agriculture in Quezon City, Philippines, on Jan. 16, 2023, to demand an immediate solution to the rising prices of food in the country. (Photo by Jire Carreon)

The Catholic Church’s social action and advocacy arm urged the government to provide farmers with needed assistance amid the soaring prices of onions in the market.

Caritas Philippines issued a statement on Monday, January 16, calling on the Department of Agriculture to help farmers increase onion production at less costs in a bid to lower prices in the market.

“The government should provide financial incentives or subsidies to help our farmers grow more onions and lower the cost of production,” said Bishop Jose Colin Bagaforo of Caritas Philippines.

“This will make them more competitive with producers from other countries, who are already receiving large subsidies and other forms of support from their government,” he said.

Aside from the financial support, the bishop also urged the Department of Agriculture to improve onion farming infrastructures in the country.

“Another thing that can be looked into is infrastructural investments that would improve the productivity and efficiency of onion farms,” Bishop Bagaforo said.

“More cold storage facilities should be established to lessen the cost surplus of our farmers and meet the rising demand for agricultural products in the market,” he added.

Caritas Philippines issued the statement as prices of local red onions are now between PhP500 to PhP720 per kilogram, while local white onions are priced at PhP600.

The amount is far from prices in 2021, when the prevailing price of locally produced onions

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Green activists, tribal group call for pull out of soldiers from indigenous communities

Kalikasan urged the Department of Environment and National Resources to immediately stop and review megadam projects

LiCAS News
January 17, 2023

An activist displays a placard during a demonstration on Dec. 30, 2022, calling for justice for what human rights groups described as a massacre of Tumandok indigenous people in 2020. (Photo by Mark Saludes)

Environmental activists and a tribal people’s group called on the government to pull out soldiers who were reported to have been deployed in indigenous people’s communities in the past weeks.

“We call on the [police] and the [military] to pull out their troops immediately in the Tumandok areas,” said read a statement by Beverly Longid, national convener of Katribu Kalipunan ng Katutubong Mamamayan sa Pilipinas.

Longid said police and military operations in the ancestral lands of the Tumandok indigenous tribe in Calinog, Iloilo, and Tapaz, Capiz, “are causing alarm and fear for the Tumandok.”

In 2020, state forces simultaneously raided two Tumandok communities in Iloilo and Capiz, killing nine community leaders and arresting 17 others.

The Jalaur megadam in the island of Panay has faced controversy in recent years due to alleged human rights violations.

Just last week 300 soldiers again conducted military operations in the Tumandok communities, causing widespread fear there that a repeat of the 2020 massacre would occur.

“Civil-military ops like this often lead to human rights violations, intimidation, and disunity in the IP communities,” said Longid, adding that it causes fear and confusion among the people.

 “Like in the past, this might lead to dispossession and displacement,” she said.

Kalikasan People PNE, an environmental group, also expressed alarm over the recent deployment of military troops in the ancestral lands.

The group said the soldiers are not there to “keep the peace,” but instead have been sent there to “quell the resistance” of the Tumandok people against the controversial Jalaur megadam project.

“On top of violating Indigenous peoples’ rights, these megadams cause large-scale environmental destruction in the long run,” said the group in a statement.

Aside from the Jalaur megadam, other dam projects across the country have also been met with community resistance in recent years.

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Philippines’ ‘first town’ celebrates feast of Child Jesus with thanksgiving Mass

The San Nicolas church was built between 1787 and 1804 under the supervision of Augustinian friar Ambosio Otero

Philippine News Agency
January 17, 2023

Interior of the San Nicolas de Tolentino Church in San Nicolas, Cebu City, before it was destroyed during the Second World War. The San Nicholas parish is considered one of the oldest in Cebu.

Parishioners of the San Nicolas de Tolentino Shrine in a village known during the Spanish time as “el primer pueblo de Filipinas,” or the first town in the Philippines, celebrate the feast of the Sto. Niño or the Child Jesus with a thanksgiving Mass.

Monsignor Rogelio Fuentes, the shrine’s moderator, traced the thanksgiving celebration at the 457-year-old Basilica Minore del Sto. Niño to the relationship between the friars of the Order of St. Augustine and the residents of the country’s oldest “pueblo.”

“Long before the pandemic, the priests from our parish would be called to celebrate the thanksgiving Mass. Why is that? Perhaps, it is because of so many connections between the Basilica and San Nicolas Parish,” said the priest in his homily.

He reminded devotees that San Nicolas, the old settlement during the Spanish time and at the same time the first parish ever established in mainland Cebu, was founded by the Spanish Augustinian friars in 1584.

As the mother parish, San Nicolas was instrumental in creating major parishes in Cebu such as the Sta. Catalina de Alexandria in Carcar City (1617), Nuestra Señora Virgen de la Regla in Lapu-Lapu City (1711), San Francisco de Asis in Naga City (1829), Sta. Teresa de Avila in Talisay City (1836), Sto. Tomas de Villanueva in El Pardo, Cebu City (1933), Our Lady of Guadalupe de Cebu in Guadalupe, Cebu City (1933), and five other parishes.

On Saturday, eve of the festivities, every image of the “Sto. Niño de Teniente” from San Nicolas will have to arrive to guard the Basilica for the entire duration of the solemn foot procession of the holy image of the Sr. Sto. Niño de Cebu.

As a tradition, Msgr. Fuentes said the Augustian friars are the ones who celebrate the fiesta

Msgr. Fuentes, who also is serving as Archdiocese of Cebu vicar general, said he finds it proper that as the oldest of all the parishes in Cebu, the parish priest in San Nicolas would lead the Holy Mass in thanking God for the three graces – the grace of history, the grace of the celebration, and the graces that each one received from the Lord.

“In the grace of history, we have many things to thank about as we have just commemorated the 500 years of Christianity, a grace that Cebuanos are grateful to God for it is in our midst that the blessing of this Basilica and the image of the Sr. Sto. Niño gifted to Queen Juana on the occasion of the first baptism here in Cebu,” he said in Cebuano.

According to a publication, Balaanong Bahandi, the San Nicolas church built in honor of an Italian saint, St. Nicolas de Tolentino, also served as a town known before as Cebu el Viejo or old Cebu back to the time of Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, 439 years ago.

The adjacent settlement up north was Villa San Miguel, the city created by the Spaniards while farther away was called Parian where the Chinese lived and traded.

The San Nicolas church was built between 1787 and 1804 under the supervision of Augustinian friar Ambosio Otero. The bell tower was added in 1812 and the parochial house in 1825.

However, the church building was destroyed by aerial bombing during World War II. The present-day church was built in 1942 and was finished in 1965.

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