Of taxes, the BIR and political dynasties

For our special presentation on our talk show on Straight from the Sky we talk about Philippine and Canadian Relations with Canadian Ambassador to the Philippines his Excellency Christopher Thornley. I have interviewed the past two Canadian Ambassadors, from Amb. Peter Sutherland and Amb. Robert Desjardin and it is always interesting to talk about Canada, although I’ve only stepped inside Canada once way back in September 1972 when we went to view the good side of the Niagara Falls.

We can learn much about Canada, especially its electoral system, where they shun electronic voting and only use paper and pencil, just like they do in England. Yet after one day, the winners are already known. Why didn’t the Comelec come up with a research on the cheapest and most accurate way to conduct an election escapes me.

This talk with Amb. Thornley gave me an idea about Canada’s Parliamentary and Federal system that gives a true representation of the Canadian people… and best of all their legislators do not have any Pork Barrel. If a rich country like Canada can have elected officials that could function without a Pork Barrel, why can’t we in the Philippines follow their system of governance? Here we are holding elections every three years and electing mostly political dynasties because of the lure of the Pork Barrel. Something has to change!

I also learned from this talk that Canada has a great need for skilled workers, especially welders who are needed in Alberta. They are training these welders at the old Sacred Heart School in Mango Ave. and they are paid very good wages. So watch this very interesting conversation with his Excellency Amb. Christopher Thornley on SkyCable’s channel 61 at 8:00pm tonight with replays on Wednesday and Saturday. MyTV channel 30 also replays our shows on M-W-F at 7:00pm and 9:00pm.

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Remember Shakespeare’s novel “Julius Caesar” wherein the soothsayer warned Julius Caesar of the Ides of March? But here in the Philippines, the people are more fearful with the Ides of April… as it is the time that the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) collects our taxes. As we all know… we can never escape death and taxes. But there is no doubt there are still a lot of people who do not pay taxes to the BIR as clearly revealed by Pres. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino, III when he spoke before a Chinese Chamber a few weeks ago. The fact alone that even under the era of Daang Matuwid, smuggling goes unabated is proof that the Aquino Regime could not put the brakes in this kind of criminality.

But it doesn’t help any that there are still people within the BIR who are still corrupt. Just a few days ago the Ombudsman ousted a BIR official. Honestly now, we thought that this kind of corruption would have been eliminated in the three years of the Aquino Regime. It is for this reason why a lot of people are fearful of the BIR because even if you try to be honest those unscrupulous BIR personnel would find faults in your returns… and the only way to get them off our back is to “grease their palms.” Like it or not, this is still the reality today.

But the saddest fact of all is that the majority of the taxes that the BIR collects are being spent by our government that is ruled by political dynasties… this is why many of them are seeking public office because it is a very easy way to make tons of money. Even if you are not corrupt public official, the pork barrel will most certainly take care of your financial needs and more. Just imagine each Senator gets a whopping P200 million annually, while each Congressman gets P70 million!

If you are a well-paid business executive earning upwards of P50,000 to a P100,000 per month, you still have to pay a huge chunk of your money for taxes. But Senators and Congressmen are only paid a measly P30,000 per month, yet they spend millions just to get into the Legislature because you can easily recoup your election expenses because of their pork barrel with “No Thanks” to us taxpayers!

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The BLACKBOX:

I have to hand it to Marco Polo Plaza Hotel for their tireless effort to promote their culinary journey, which is why they are one of the top five Best Restaurants in the Philippines. Last Friday, Marco Polo Plaza Hotel launched a unique culinary event… a Philippines first when they held “The Great Media Cookout!” Yes, scribes and journalists that you get to read or watch on TV are sharing their recipes in this weeklong culinary journey under the guidance of my wife Jessica, Marco Polo’s Food Consultant. As they say, “Proof of the pudding is in the eating.” During last Friday’s launch, a lot of food ran out of stock for the simple reason that this event was a stunning success!

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