Huwag nang hintayin na lalong lumubog ang ekonomiya

KAILANGAN umano na tugunan na ngayon ang kahirapan ngayon at huwag ng hayaan na ito ay lumala dahil mas magiging mahirap ang pagbangon.

Ito ang sinabi ni House committee on ways and means chairman at Albay Rep. Joey Salceda matapos ilabas ng Philippine Statistics Authority ang malaking paglobo sa bilang ng mga walang trabaho sa bansa.

“I had no doubt that we will need to be more aggressive with our economic stimulus. There were 8 million fewer employed people in April 2020 than there were in April 2019 – that is a very alarming sign that families are struggling,” ani Salceda.

“As I told our economic managers, we will need to confront poverty now. We cannot let growth fall too far down because it leads to poverty, and poverty is intergenerational. If you don’t confront it now, you are amplifying the problem in the future.”

Sinabi ni Salceda na kung walang gagawin o mali ang magiging susunod na hakbang ng gobyerno maaaring lumubog ang gross domestic product ng -5.5 porsyento ngayong taon.

“You will remember that when I appealed that we do lockdowns, I said let’s do lockdowns now so that we won’t have to do more costly lockdowns later. The same principle applies with economic crises. If you don’t confront the problem now with a strong stimulus plan like ARISE, you will have to spend more to correct a greater damage in the future. When confidence is the commodity in scarcity, you have to be quick, bold, and decisive. Vacillation will hurt. Delays will hurt.”

Si Salceda ang nasa likod ng Accelerated Recovery and Investments Stimulus for the Economy of the Philippines (ARISE Philippines) at Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises Act (CREATE) na ang binagong Corporate Income Tax and Incentives Rationalization Act (CITIRA).

“The fiscal deficit is not my biggest concern right now. As I told the economic managers, I am prepared to line up P100 billion per year in new revenue measures – as indeed I already have, often at great cost to my own popularity. The budget deficit is a much smaller consideration compared to our country’s deficit in confidence.”