Bohol to get P945M share from sin taxes

Rep. Erico B. Aumentado

By JUNE S. BLANCO

BOHOL stands to get P945 million – or P315 million for each district – as share from “sin taxes” once House Bill 5727 is approved.

Rep. Erico Aumentado (2nd District, Bohol) who co-authored the bill said the amount is its share for the Universal Health Care (UHC) program alone and does not include yet the allocations for new school buildings and additional teacher-items. This means PhilHealth coverage especially for the marginalized will be expanded further.

He said the Department of Finance and Health Secretary Enrique Ona came up with the estimate from the P33-billion total expected to be generated through the proposed measure.

Aumentado was the first solon to file a version of the bill – now consolidated with the administration version.

Since the sin taxes will hike the prices of tobacco and liquor, in a way these will reduce the prevalence of smoking as well as smoking-related disease burden estimated at P177.2 billion in 2011, he explained.

The increased revenues will strengthen fiscal and macroeconomic health, improve credit and investment grade rating as well as infrastructure and social services. The sin taxes can construct more school buildings, hire new teachers, and provide computers with internet for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) program for students and teachers in support of the K plus 12 program of the Department of Education (DepEd).

The solon also said the tobacco taxes will reduce the number of young smokers. Likewise, reforms under this bill will protect the poor who suffer the brunt of smoking-related diseases. To note, majority of the 300,000 Filipinos who die every year of sicknesses like cancer come from the poor.

He observed that four out of 10 of the poorest 20 percent of Filipino adults are current smokers compared to only one of four of the richest 20 percent who smoke regularly.

Besides, he added, the tobacco farmers will get earmarked funds equivalent to 15 percent of the incremental revenues from tobacco taxes for alternative livelihood and safety nets. Leveling the playing field will erode the power to dictate the price for the tobacco farmers’ produce and will mean better prices for them, he explained.

Aumentado also said the new revenues will increase the resources of local governments congressional districts for PhilHealth and other health programs.

He said the reforms spell long-term prosperity – stem the silent epidemic of smoking and alcohol-related diseases and deaths, improve the lives and capabilities of the nation’s work force, enhance the quality of governance and enable long-term inclusive growth.

Aumentado slams RH bill

By JUNE S. BLANCO

UNCONSTITUTIONAL, redundant, unnecessary and just enriches multinationals.

Thus Rep. Erico Aumentado (2nd District, Bohol) describes the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill.

Aumentado is among the speakers of the anti-RH Bill rally slated in the Diocese of Talibon under Bishop Christian Vicente Noel. All towns within the diocese will be sending delegations to the event – up to Jagna to the east, Tubigon to the west and Carmen in the interior.

Other  speakers are Bishop Noel, Dr. Jose Bullecer and the Social Action Center director of Talibon.

A recipient of the Humanae Vitae award from Cardinal Vidal for his pro-life stance, the solon said Section 12 of Article II of the Philippine Constitution provides that “The State shall equally protect the life of the mother and of the unborn child.”

Fr. Joaquin Bernas, delegate to the 1987 Constitutional Commission, had said human life begins with the fertilization of the ovum by the sperm. This begins the child’s right to life and protection by the state as guaranteed by the Constitution.

Aumentado said the Philippine Medical Association, former Health Secretary Esperanza Cabral and the United States Senate support the observation. The US Senate had called 57 experts including those from the Harvard Medical School and Mayo Clinic.

Among those called was Dr. Jerome Lejeune, father of modern genetics, to answer questions like when does human life start.

The 1981 US Medical Report says there is overwhelming evidence that human life starts at fertilization, as supported by countless medical, biological and scientific papers.

Birth control pills and intra-uterine devices (IUDs) kill – because these prevent the meeting of the sperm and ovum. Pills also are abortifacient, he added – a high risk acknowledged in scientific journals of the American Medical Association, American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology of 1985. IUDs, the paper said, also eliminates the early embryo.

He said the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2007 had presented a study by 27 scientists that said the pill has a high level of carcinogenicity – like cigarettes and asbestos. Contraceptive pills can also cause strokes, heart attacks and others.

These findings would show that the RH Bill legalizes crimes that had used people’s money when perpetrated – government workers distributing the pills that in effect supports the “massacre” of unborn children because it can cause cancer, stroke and heart attacks in the mother. The act also violates one of the Ten Commandments – “Thou shalt not kill.”

Aumentado also said it is high time to reflect on the common observations of then Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and current State Secretary Hillary Clinton. Both had said that the RH Bill necessarily includes abortion as an effective method of population control.

He said the bill is redundant and unnecessary because there are already laws implementing the provisions in the RH Bill through the Department of Health. The program has a P3 billion funding with which to purchase and distribute pills, IUDs and condoms.

It includes population control that was already started during the martial law years of then President Marcos, with support from the United States of America.

The law on Anti-Violence Against Women and Children already gives them the right to protection and to choose the appropriate family planning method. Presidential orders and proclamations also include thee tapping of health workers in distributing pills, IUDs, condoms and the like, hence the redundance, the Bohol solon said.

The funds for these activities could have been used for studies to prevent the top causes of death in the Philippines. The World Health Organization Mortality Country Fact Sheet (2006) on the Philippines lists these as lower respiratory tract infections, ischaemic heart disease, tuberculosis, hypertensive heart disease, perinatal conditions, cerebrovascular disease, violence, diarrheal diseases, diabetes mellitus and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

On top of the P3 billion, another potential drain of people’s money in the RH Bill is the yearly appropriation for the implementation of the same. The amount could be used to propagate the Billings Ovulation Method, a natural family planning method.

The 1978 World Health Organization trial on the Billings Ovulation Method reveals an average biological efficiency for this method of 99.2%.

Rico pushes “sin tax” bill

By JUNE S. BLANCO

REP. Erico Aumentado (2nd District, Bohol) is endorsing the House Bill 5727 or the “Sin Tax” bill.

The Bohol solon who co-authored the bill explained his yes vote in a privilege speech considering that he was confined at the St. Luke’s Medical Center in Global City for a medical check-up when his colleagues voted on the measure.

He said revenue for the sin taxes will finance the Universal Health Care (UHC) program, expanding its coverage, reduce the prevalence of smoking as well as smoking-related disease burden estimated at P177.2 billion in 2011.

The increased revenues will strengthen fiscal and macroeconomic health, improve credit and investment grade rating as well as infrastructure and social services. The sin taxes can construct more school buildings, hire new teachers, and provide computers with internet for the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) program for students and teachers in support of the K plus 12 program of the Department of Education (DepEd).

The solon also said the tobacco taxes will reduce the number of young smokers. Likewise, reforms under this bill will protect the poor who suffer the brunt of smoking-related diseases. To note, majority of the 300,000 Filipinos who die every year of sicknesses like cancer come from the poor.

He observed that four out of 10 of the poorest 20 percent of Filipino adults are current smokers compared to only one of four of the richest 20 percent who smoke regularly.

Besides, he added, the tobacco farmers will get earmarked funds equivalent to 15 percent of the incremental revenues from tobacco taxes for alternative livelihood and safety nets. Leveling the playing field will erode the power to dictate the price for the tobacco farmers’ produce and will mean better prices for them, he explained.

Aumentado also said the new revenues will increase the resources of local governments congressional districts for PhilHealth and other health programs.

He said the reforms spell long-term prosperity – stem the silent epidemic of smoking and alcohol-related diseases and deaths, improve the lives and capabilities of the nation’s work force, enhance the quality of governance and enable long-term inclusive growth.

Link from Bohol Sunday Post Newspaper http://www.discoverbohol.com/bsp/2012/0617-12/Sin-Tax-0617-12.htm