RELIEF MEASURES 'INDISPENSABLE' PART OF TRAIN LAW - POE

The subsidies enumerated in the tax reform package are indispensable to cushion the impact of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law especially for the poor, Sen. Grace Poe said Tuesday.

Poe formally wrote Finance Sec. Carlos Dominguez III, as well as Transportation Sec. Arthur Tugade, Labor Sec. Silvestre Bello III, Social Welfare Sec. Virginia Orogo and Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Chairman Martin Delgra III to "take steps" toward the immediate release of the mandated subsidies.

"The social welfare and benefits program is an indispensable part of the implementation of TRAIN. Without this program, I fear that TRAIN would result in more harm than good," said Poe, who chairs the Senate committee on public services.

Poe's panel recently held public hearings on the TRAIN Law's effects. In her letter, she shared that the "overwhelming sentiment shared by participants was that minimum wage earners are already suffering from the simultaneous effects of increasing fuel prices and inflation in basic commodities and services," which Poe added was "compounded by the effects of TRAIN Law."

Poe had called on the government to immediately issue the guidelines necessary to implement the benefits program, which include fuel vouchers to jeepney franchise holders, fare discounts, rice discounts, free skills training for minimum-wage earners and the poorest 50 percent of the population, and P200 per month this year and P300 per month in 2019 and 2020 for 10 million households.

"As swift as we had passed the TRAIN Law, it is only right that we implement the mitigating measures which we have designed for the poorest of the poor," said Poe.