Palace: Roxas doesn’t have monopoly of solutions vs rising inflation

Malacañang stood by its move to ignore the advice of former Interior secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas II on addressing soaring inflation in the country.

Roxas last week called for a break from political bickering as he asked President Rodrigo Duterte to consider his suggestion to increase rice imports and for fastfood chains, malls grocery and supermarket chains, and other large users to independently source and import their own supplies.

A former trade secretary, Roxas also called for the repeal of Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law provisions on fuel and other basic commodities, promotion of industrialized farming and inclusion of farmers and their families to the conditional cash transfer program.

At a news conference, presidential spokesperson Harry Roque said Roxas’ suggestions were not new because Duterte’s economic team had already proposed similar measures to tame inflation.

Inflation rate soared at a nine-year high of 6.4 percent in August with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas expecting it to peak this month before slowing down in the last quarter of the year due to the mitigating measures of the government.

“Who told him he is the only one who said that. Basahin n’yo naman iyong sinabi niya, hindi ba sinabi na rin iyan ng mga economic team,” Roque said.

“Kaya when I told him to shut up, it’s because we don’t need his advice, dahil the same advice has been given by the economic team of the President. It’s not as if he has the monopoly of solutions.”

Roque also said the suspension of the increased rates of excise taxes on petroleum products is already provided by law.

The TRAIN law provides that the suspension measure only takes effect when the average Dubai crude oil price based on Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) for three months preceding the scheduled increase reaches or exceeds $80 per barrel.

“Kung talagang lumala po ang presyo at tumaas pa rin ang presyo ng krudo, kahit sino po walang magagawa dahil nasa batas iyan. Masususpinde po ang pag-collect ng excise taxes,” he said.

Roxas lost to Duterte in the 2016 presidential election. — BAP, GMA News