Anakpawis

Reference person:  Rep. Joel Maglunsod Position:  Representative Contact information:  4269442 Date:  April 17, 2010

Anakpawis Partylist has called on Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) customers to stamp their bill invoices with “PAID UNDER PROTEST” to show at the minimum their opposition to the unjust power rate hike which coincides with rotating brownouts and price surge of basic commodities.

“It is one of the many ways by which the public can show disgust over Meralco’s heartless profiteering at a time when on-and-off power supply and rising prices hound consumers. The power rate hike is simply too much,” said Anakpawis Rep. Joel Maglunsod.

Reference person:  Rep. Joel Maglunsod Position:  Representative Contact information:  4269442 Date:  April 16, 2010

Anakpawis Rep. Joel Maglunsod slammed the proposal of an economist to raise the Value Added Tax (VAT) from 12 percent to 15 percent, calling it a “suicidal measure” that glosses over the major roots of the record budget deficit – wide scale corruption and tax breaks for big businesses.

Former budget secretary Benjamin Diokno recently proposed a mix of higher VAT and lower income tax rates to supposedly plug the country’s yawning deficit. But
Maglunsod branded the idea as “absurd,” saying a cut in income taxes can never balance higher prices due to increased VAT.

Reference person:  Rep. Joel Maglunsod Position:  Representative Contact information:  4269442 Date:  April 13, 2010

Anakpawis Rep. Joel Maglunsod said the Commission on Elections (Comelec) must act on the pending disqualification cases filed by marginalized sectors against certain partylist candidates who are allied with the Arroyo administration particularly former Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes, presidential son Pampanga Rep. Mikey Arroyo and other former government and military officials.