(Eagle News)–Senator Risa Hontiveros on Friday, Oct. 5, urged President Rodrigo Duterte to focus on the country’s economic problems, including inflation, rather than “waste (his) time chasing non-existent destabilization plots.”
“The president should stop looking for phantom plots against him when the real problem is right in front of him,” Hontiveros said in a statement issued after the Philippine Statistics Authority reported inflation had surged to 6.7 percent in September.
According to Hontiveros, “if there is anything that is destabilized right now, it is the economy.”
She noted that the price of gasoline went up by 1 peso per liter and diesel by Php1.35 at the beginning of the month.
She said the Philippine peso was also now at 54 to the dollar and the World Bank has downgraded its growth outlook for the country.
“Instead of going after students and schools, he should devote his time and energy to addressing the daily burden of our countrymen and women,” Hontiveros said.
“Every day President Duterte spends obsessing with fake destabilization plots and hunting his critics is a missed opportunity to fix the economy,” Hontiveros added.
She said for her part she was pushing for measures to address the “economic crisis.”
For instance, she said she was pushing for the suspension of further taxes mandated by the tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion law “until the inflation rate subsides, a decisive shift in rice policy, a faster infrastructure program to generate jobs, a wage hike, a cash transfer to poor families, and cutting the Value Added Tax (VAT).”
“Unlike President Duterte’s phantom destabilization plots, these are our real problems, and they demand his full and immediate attention, because this is about food on the table for every Filipino. This is about how we get to work. This is about education for our children. It doesn’t get any more real than that,” Hontiveros said.
