Press Statement – Action for Economic Reforms – May 10, 2012 For more than 15 years, the Philippines suffered from a fatally-flawed sin tax system for tobacco and alcohol products. The toll of these flaws has not only been in billions of pesos in foregone public revenues— they have been in millions of lives. At least [...]
13
May
Tobacco sin tax revenues drop by 20% in 2011, highlights flaws in tax law— DOF, AER
Press Release— Action for Economic Reforms— 6 May 2012 Although Philip Morris Fortune Tobacco Corporation (PMFTC) has argued that reforming our excise levies on cigarettes would spur a free-fall in tax revenues, new data from the Department of Finance reveals that these already plummeted by 20% in 2011. According to the DOF, collections from sin [...]
12
May
Same-sex marriage
US President Barack Obama endorsed same-sex marriage on the same day that North Carolina voters overwhelmingly approved a constitutional amendment defining marriage solely as a union between man and woman. North Carolina becomes the 30th US state to ban same-sex marriage.
04
May
Love, Eraptually
What’s an ex-president like me doing as a love guru? Well, some say I am luckier in love than in politics. I was an unwilling prisoner because of politics, but I’m always a willing prisoner of love. I’m an expert in both. I even get them confused because love is like politics. It’s more interesting when it’s dirty.
04
May
Where does the US stand on the Philippines-China dispute?
A lot of attention and commentary was focused on US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s statement on the “evolving regional security situation”:
“We both share deep concerns about the developments on the Korean Peninsula and events in the South China Sea, including recent tensions surrounding the Scarborough Shoal. In this context, the United States has been clear and consistent. While we do not take sides on the competing sovereignty claims to land features in the South China Sea, as a Pacific power we have a national interest in freedom of navigation, the maintenance of peace and stability, respect for international law, and the unimpeded, lawful commerce across our sea lanes. The United States supports a collaborative diplomatic process by all those involved for resolving the various disputes that they encounter. We oppose the threat or use of force by any party to advance its claims. And we will remain in close contact with our ally, the Philippines.”
30
Apr
Labor and ADB against “Stagnant Industrialization”
In an ironic and historic twist, the trade union movement and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which normally do not see eye to eye on development issues, suddenly found themselves united on one: reversing the industrial hollowing out of the Philippine economy. The ADB wrote that the Philippines has an ampaw economy whose growth cannot be sustained unless its eroded industrial base is rebuilt and fortified. The ADB study, aptly titled Taking the Right Road to Inclusive Growth: Industrial Upgrading and Diversification in the Philippines (2012), has been circulated in the business community and members of the Cabinet.
