Raffy Tulfo: Tax NGCP more, not junk food

The government must increase taxes imposed on the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) instead of proposing new duties on junk food, Senator Raffy Tulfo said Friday.

Interviewed on Unang Balita, Tulfo noted that junk food are usually consumed by the "poorest of the poor," sometimes even included in their meals as viand.

"'Yan ay pagkain ng mga mahihirap, ng poorest of the poor," he said. "Sometimes it's a necessity, inuulam ‘yan. So bakit nila pag-iinitan 'yan?" said Tulfo, a member of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.

(That's the food of the poorest of the poor. Sometimes it's part of their meals. So why focus on junk food?)

According to Tulfo, the NGCP is only paying 3% corporate tax while other companies are paying 30%. Citing a past Senate investigation, he also said that most of NGCP's profits have gone to dividends.

"They are making billions and billions and billions of pesos every year, doon lamang sa dibidendo. Bakit napupunta sa mga mayayaman ang pera na 'yon eh dapat yon ay napupunta sa mga mahihirap," he said.

(They earn billions of pesos every year and yet the money only goes to the rich when it should be for the poor.)

GMA News Online has reached out to NGCP spokesperson Cynthia Alabanza for her comment, but she has yet to respond as of posting time.

During a Senate hearing in May, Alabanza explained that the net profits and dividends are accumulated from previous years and the net income for a certain year is not the sole source of the shares that are divided to its shareholders.

NGCP assistant corporate secretary Ronald Dylan Concepcion, during the same Senate hearing, explained that the capital outlay of the NGCP comes from different sources such as loans from banks.

In June, Budget Secretary Amenah Pangandaman said the Marcos administration will push for the passage of new tax measures this year, particularly additional taxes on sweetened beverages and junk food.

Under the proposed tax program, Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said they government plans to impose a P10 per 100 grams or P10 per 100 milliliters tax on pre-packaged foods lacking nutritional value, including confectioneries, snacks, desserts, and frozen confectioneries, that exceed the DOH's specified thresholds for fat, salt, and sugar content.

The Department of Finance also intends to increase the sweetened beverage tax rate under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law to P12 per liter, regardless of the type of sweetener used.

This tax rate will be indexed annually by 4%, and exemptions will be eliminated to broaden the tax base. These measures aim to strengthen the effectiveness of the sweetened beverage tax by further discouraging the consumption of such beverages. —KBK, GMA Integrated News