SEN. Juan Edgardo Angara yesterday said a measure seeking to grant a one-time P10,000 financial assistance to Filipino families amid the pandemic is “a good idea” but will be very costly on the part of the government.
Sen. Alan Peter Cayetano on Friday said he will immediately file his proposed “P10K Ayuda Bill” which he pushed when he was Taguig City representative in the last Congress but it was not included it in the Bayanihan 3 COVID-19 package. It was also one of his campaign promises.
Cayetano’s House Bill 8597 file in February last year says the amount can be used to buy basic needs or as seed money for families who want to start a small business.
Angara said there are around 30 million families in the country and giving them P10,000 each will cost the government around P30 billion.
“So ang sa akin ay unahin na muna natin yung mga nasa below the poverty line… may listahan or dapat updated ang listahan ng DSWD (Department of Social Welfare and Development). Pero maganda ang idea na may ganoong tulong (For me, let us help first those who are below the poverty line… The list of the DSWD should be updated),” Angara, committee on finance chairman, said in an interview with radio dzBB.
“I think President Marcos and Speaker Romualdez said they want a stimulus program under the new administration. So, time will come that that will be discussed),” he also said, in Filipino.
Angara said minimum wage earners will get financial relief when the second round of the TRAIN or Tax Acceleration for Inclusion Law is implemented.
Under the measure, TRAIN will lower personal income tax (PIT) for all tax payers, except the rich. Those with taxable income below P250,000 will be exempted from paying PIT, while the rest, except the rich, will have lower tax rates from 15 to 25 percent by 2020.
“Magkakaroon ng second round of income tax reduction dahil planado na yan doon sa batas na aming pinasa noong dulo ng 2017 (There will be a second round of income tax reduction because that is already programmed when we passed that law in 2017),” Angara said.
