Gregorio Miguel Pallugna
EVERY new year comes like a Pandora’s box for all of us. It’s full of all things unknown and frightful, yet with it always comes hope. Somehow, our minds have been hardwired to meet every new year with a feeling that things will become better. As we greet 2017, this same wave of hope that comes every single year is with is once more. So, I have decided that this column should be started this year with an article that outlines the possibilities that may hopefully prove to be good for many of us, particularly in terms of the laws that might be passed or put into effect this, presumably, fruitful year.
On top of our 2017 Hope List is the possible tax amnesty for all unpaid national taxes from January 2006 to June 2016! Yes, at least two House Bills (HB No. 4133 and HB 3832) propose the condonation of tax liabilities for that period, with a very reasonably low amnesty settlement.This means if you have been smart--I mean negligent by not paying your taxes for the last 10 years--then you get an astounding discount for your (insert appropriate adjective here) deed! Take note that not only the penalties will be waived but also the taxes themselves, and it applies whether you have already been assessed by the BIR or not! Although, take note of the period covered and the nature of the taxes involved. They should be national taxes, i.e. Income Tax, Estate Tax, Capital Gains Tax, etc. Real Property Taxes are not included because they are taxes imposed by the local government units. With this possibility, you may consider it wise not to pay your unpaid national taxes for that period yet. But of course, you most likely will not be interested in this news because you are a good citizen and you must have been paying your taxes religiously, right?
Second on our list is the free tuition policy in all state colleges and universities! Beginning next semester, the General Appropriations Act of 2017 requires all state colleges and universities to not charge tuition, and you do not have to be an academic scholar or an indigent to qualify for this. Anybody who will enroll in a state college or university will now be free from paying tuition. This is already a law, but I have included it in this year’s Hope List because the budget is only P8 billion, and we have yet to see how many students this will be able to cover all over the Philippines. Nevertheless, we can already expect that a considerable number of students will benefit from this law. Perhaps you might want to consider enrolling in one of our state universities this year!
Another provision that has made it to this year’s Hope List is the free irrigation for farmers policy. The 2017 General Appropriations Act has also provided for irrigation subsidy so that farmers will no longer have to pay the National Irrigation Administration fees for irrigation services. This news is not only hopefully beneficial for farmers but also for all of us as this will potentially translate into lower prices of rice and other farm produce. There is a caveat to this though because the Secretary of Agriculture has made a statement that this exemption from irrigation fees may not apply to corporate farming businesses. Despite this however, the law will generally have a potentially positive effect on the farming industry and the consuming public in general.
Also in the list are HB 3584 and SB 774, which are each congressional house’s versions of the Wireless Telephone Consumer Protection Act which seeks to impose stricter regulations on companies providing wireless communication services. This bill if passed into law this year, will require wireless communication companies to inform subscribers of the full details of the charges that will be imposed such as fees for receiving messages or calls from outside the country, taxes that are included by the service company in their charges to subscribers, and the number of minutes allowed under a plan during the day and during nighttime, among others. This will hopefully better protect us from scrupulous telecom companies who keep charging us excessive rates without us knowing the actual extent of our rights and liabilities. This one is high on my list!
Finally, and this one is already a done deal, for those who have neglected to have their old peso bills exchanged with the banks, the deadline for exchanging them has been extended by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas from Jan. 1, 2017 to March 31, 2017! If you did not know that there was a deadline for that, or if you have forgotten about it, you still have time. After March 31, 2017, those old bills will literally become worthless pieces of paper that cannot be used for any transaction except for posterity and memorabilia purposes. Note that you may exchange old bills with any bank anywhere in the Philippines even if you do not have any account with that bank.
These laws and regulations are only a few of the countless possibilities that greet us this new year! Take advantage of them as they do not come as often as we think they should! Although quite a number of fearful possibilities hound us this year, let us not allow them to overshadow the bright side of 2017. Indeed, the new year greets us with a pandora’s box. Face the challenges but never forget to find the hope that comes with it!
Happy new year, indeed!
