(Eagle News) — Senator Sherwin Gatchalian has proposed the creation of a multi-agency task force that he said would be responsible for mitigating the effects of rising inflation in the country.
In a statement on Wednesday, Aug. 22, Gatchalian said the Department of Finance can be in charge of creating the task force, together with the Department of Budget and Management.
“It can be a multi-sectoral and multi-departmental task force so that we can come up with a holistic approach to curbing inflation,” Gatchalian said, noting the “a hodgepodge of different measures and different strategies” proposed by the different agencies in the economic cluster of the government.
Gatchalian made the statement after his committee on economic affairs held a hearing on the effects of inflation.
During the hearing, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said that the July 2018 inflation was primarily driven by rising food prices because of the weather; higher excise taxes on sweetened beverages and fuel, and the scheduled increase in excise tax of tobacco products; higher electricity generation charges and increase in water rates; and the approved provisional P1 jeepney minimum fare increase in the National Capital Region and Regions 3 and 4.
Gatchalian said the committee will continue to conduct more hearings “as long as inflation is an ongoing concern.”
He expressed hope the concerned agencies would “be able to present concrete progress” in the implementation of measures aimed at arresting inflation.
“It’s really not only about getting information from the different departments, but also pushing the different departments to fulfill their promises to the people,” he said.