Ilonggo 'labor power' hit the streets in EVAT protest
Hundreds of Ilonggo vendors, drivers, members of urban poor groups and industrial workers gathered yesterday for yet another round of protest against the implementation of the Expanded Value Added Tax (EVAT).
Banding under the Labor Power Council (LPC) - Iloilo, the group is the biggest alliance thus far formed by working class Ilonggos coming from the transport and business sectors. Yesterday's 'show of force' formed part of the nationwide day of protest pushed by anti-EVAT advocates who continue to call for the resignation of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
In a news statement, LPC-Iloilo tagged the government as 'one big liar' in its EVAT justification through the media.
Such 'media blitz,' the LPC-Iloilo said was one campaign 'aimed at mitigating the outrage of the people rather than in mitigating the impact of VAT on goods and services.'
'It is a bigger sin to lie on the people by telling them that the VAT is not anti-poor, that it is for infrastructure and services when the fact is it is not. All revenues that will be derived from taxes are not even enough to finance government's budget deficit and debt payment accounts,' the LPC-Iloilo news statement stated. 'More than this, the matter of imposing more taxes in the midst of an acute political crisis is a choice only a very insensitive and desperate leader can make.'
And the timing is off, too, the group said with the November 1 EVAT implementation while saying that what it brought was 'irony of the times in this unfortunate nation because the recent Halloween holiday has become more of an occasion to mourn for the living rather than for the dead.'
Romeo Herrera, president of the Jaro Ungka-UI passenger jeepney route heads LPC-Iloilo. The group vows more build-up opposition and like the expanded coverage of the EVAT, the promise as well of 'expanded' form of street protests.
Yesterday's protest action also saw the presence of the Sanlakas headed by the group's secretary general, Raymund Moderes, Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino, Partido ng Manggawa and Freedom from Debt Coalition.