Notes

FINAL SCRIPT

Host 1: Good day to all of our Kababayans and we welcome you to Choo Choo to Economic Prosperity. Hmm, just by the title of our talk, I think the topic that we’ll have today is already quite clear. What do you think, partner?

Host 2: [nods] Yes, actually it is. What will be discussed today is something really important since this has been affecting Filipinos nationwide ever since this law was implemented. This law in particular has also been receiving a lot of negative feedback, if I may say, from the community as well as lot of protests against it.

Host 1: And yes, what will be discussed today is all about TRAIN Law. What is TRAIN Law? How does it affect the people of different classes? What are the benefits that come with this? Well, those are just some of the questions that will be answered in today’s talk. So without further ado, let us introduce the speakers that we have for today.

Host 2: All from De La Salle Santiago Zobel, we have Desher Empeno, Hazel Reyes, and Maui Ramos.

Speaker 1: Good day to all! Just like our hosts mentioned, we’ll talk about something very important today since it is true that it has been affecting all, if not, majority of the people living here in our country today. Unfortunately, those from the lower income class are the ones who feel the impact the most since prices of goods have been rising. So to begin, what is TRAIN Law? Train Law or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Law is is the first package of the CTRP or the Comprehensive Tax Reform Program which aims to create a more just, simple and more effective system of tax collection. With this, the rich will be the ones to give a bigger contribution to the government while those who are part of the low income class will benefit more from the programs and services provided by the government.

Speaker 2: TRAIN law doesn’t just affect those in the low-income as this affects every single taxpayer here in our country since this law affects almost every product that you can see sold in the markets. You can actually see prices rising in every store that you enter, especially in super markets. Several changes are implemented on Estates for about 6%, mining tax increased by 4%, cosmetic tax by 5% increase.

Speaker 3: Yes, it has basically affected most of our expenses but besides those, change in the prices of sweetened beverages and sin products such as cigarettes, and alcohol. Not only that, it also affects the prices of rice, electricity and several kinds of meat.

Prices of basic necessities needed to survive the urban life like beef (meat products), rice, and petroleum gas to fuel their vehicles are increasing due to excise taxes imposed. Rice, when getting thoroughly cleaned and inspected using machines that use petroleum oil/gas, which is why a staple like this has increased.

The increase of prices of fuels are so harmful especially that one predominant livelihood of the lower class is the running of transportation through tricycles, motorcycles, and jeepneys which use fuel. They need to increase prices to increase their profit margin to compensate for the higher prices of fuel, or they risk being unprofitable.

All of these began after the salaries given to our workers rose as well and because of all these products getting more expensive, the workers can’t even feel the rise in their pay since their expenses have risen as well.

Host 1: Okay. TRAIN Law is meant to decrease the burden from those in the low-income class but how come this affects them the most? What could be the main reason about this?

Speaker 1: Well, as mentioned earlier, the prices have risen along with the salaries they receive. Though besides this, we can’t also deny that the poverty that most of our Filipinos experience just contributes more to the burden they have.

Speaker 2: and to properly define, poverty is when families cannot provide good diet and cannot meet basic necessities like clothing and other stuff. The situation they’re in is an example of the law of demand where in if the price of a good increases, the quantity demanded by consumers decreases as well.

A Pulse Asia Survey with 1200 respondents last March 2018 indicated that:
- 86% were strongly affected by the increase in the price of goods
- 13% were somewhat affected
- 1% said they were not affected at all

Respondents also said that:
- 92% of the increases they’ve felt were towards food items
- The 92% composed of rice as the first commodity then non-rice items

Other data included:
Softdrinks – 56%
Electricity – 30%
Transportation-related Items – 22%
Price Hikes in Diesel – 16%
LPG – 12%
Transport Fares – 7%

Host 2: So, this means that the capacity of what the consumers can buy lessens. They cant buy as much as they used to.

Speaker 3: And the TRAIN Law has not only affected the less fortunate, but it has also affected businesses especially SMEs the most.

Higher fuel prices will affect public transport service systems which can result to higher transportation costs. Also, Owners of small businesses such as sari-sari stores have chosen to lessen their supplies and increase their prices to compensate for the lessened supply, which in turn lessens the number of customers which correlates to lower profits of the small businesses of the less fortunate. Most of all, small businesses who are resellers of the goods concerned above raise their prices, which makes them less competitive.

Host 2: Oh my! So personally I derived these two insights as to how that TRAIN Law affected the market. First, the resource market will now require human capital that will be treated to a lesser extent because corporations naturally want to reduce costs to maintain or lower the prices of their goods, and the product market will now contain goods that are generally higher in price.

Host 1: Yes, since prices of basic commodities are affected the most. Lately, we have been observing that the Inflation jumped to 5.7% last July compared to June’s 5.2% and it has been steadily rising. What does this mean? Is this a positive or a negative impact?

Speaker 1: Before we delve deeper into that, let’s first define what Inflation is . Inflation is when the price of goods increases and the value of what money can get decreases. The TRAIN Law contributed a lot to this which caused a domino effect and this led again to the price of basic necessities. This shows a negative impact since this does not really help with the struggles our citizens face. The value that our money has is no longer the same, in terms of purchasing power, as it rises.

Speaker 2: However, it does not really guarantee that it won’t bring any positive effect. It still depends on how it will be dealt with by both the government and the consumers.

Host 2: Since you mentioned that it depends on how it will be dealt with by the government, with all these effects mentioned, how does the government plan to provide help or support to those who are struggling with the implementation of TRAIN Law?

Speaker 3: For this, the government has several programs such as the 4Ps and the ASAPP. The 4Ps which stands for Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is a conditional cash transfer program which provides cash grant to Filipino families that are equal or below the provincial poverty threshold. With this program comes a 6,000 pesos annually for each chosen household for health and nutrition expenses, and 3000 pesos per child for one school year though this only applies to 3 children per family.

Host 1: so for a family to be part of the cash grant program, will there be any criteria that must be met by each family?

Speaker 1: Yes, there are. For you to be part of the program, they have to be residents of the poorest municipalities. This will be based on the 2003 Small Area Estimates of the National Statistical Coordination Board. Another would be the household should have children 0-18 years old and/or has a pregnant woman at the time of assessment.

Speaker 2: To add to this, besides financial aid in health and education, there would also be health check ups for pregnant women and children ages 0-5 years old, as well as deworming of school children up to 14 years of age.

Host 2: You also mentioned ASAPP or the Accelerated and Sustainable Anti-poverty Program. How is this different from the 4Ps Program?

Speaker 3: The difference is that ASAPP is not a conditional cash transfer program. Instead, this provides employment opportunities which includes self-employment for the poor. In partnership with privates sectors and our local government units, this will be executed in cities and municipalities where the population is consisted of those who have limited skills, limited expansion opportunities for businesses, and hige in-migration.

Speaker 1: With all these that the government has provided, we do hope that all these will be implemented well and with responsibility so our fellow Filipinos will get the help that they need.

Host 1: Hopefully! But with the current state of our nation right now, do you think there is anything the business sector may do amidst this TRAIN Law Situation?

Speaker 2:

First, they can provide job opportunities. One of the solutions that the business sector provides is the general provision of job opportunities to the public. Everyday, there is a growing list of endless positions opening in numerous firms around the country, which coincides with the fact that there is an unemployment problem. This can help boost the economy, giving ppl more money and therefore overcoming the problem that the train law is giving which is that everything is becoming more expensive.



Speaker 3:
Aside from providing jobs for those who are affected by the poverty increased by the TRAIN Law, the business sector can also compromise in terms of practicing Corporate Social Responsibility. By definition, this refers to companies’ way of addressing the social and environmental impacts that their operations have created. Corporate Social Responsibility Programs are distinguished under the subtopic of Providing Job Opportunities, as it is a job opportunity in it’s own way. However, instead of just being able to make sure that the people in need are able to secure enough income, which would eventually aid them through the TRAIN Law implementation as they would be able to sufficiently trudge through the high inflation rates, this can also help those who did not receive proper education as they would not need to have a certain degree in order to work under the CSRP (corporate social responsibility programs). Additionally, this can also help them receive proper experience that would enable them to enter future jobs that would require such. Aside from that, the CSRP also gives back to the environment, which also gives its recipients a chance to do their part in saving the environment.

Host 2: Okay, that wraps up today’s discussion. We would like to thank our speakers for today. We do hope that this discussion was able to help the viewers understand more about the TRAIN Law. There may have been faults and a lot of points to be improved upon, but let’s not focus on these and see it as the first step towards our country’s upward economical progression.

Host 1: But before we end, we’ll play with the audience! Let’s play the Whisper Challenge!

Host 2: What is the Whisper Challenge?

Host 1: Well, the Whisper Challenge is basically a game where two individuals will be required to wear a set of headphones. Each person will be given a set of headphones, which will be playing a song on full volume for the duration of the game. The challenge is that one person will be given any word or phrase—

Host 2: in this instance, something related to our topic today, which is the TRAIN Law

Host 1: —and then other person will have to guess what the word or phrase is while wearing the earphones.

Host 2: Seems fair enough! Let’s start the game!

Words:
Reform
Excise Tax
Poverty Threshold
Tax Reform
Acceleration and Inclusion
Inflation
4Ps

Host 1: and once again, good day to everyone . Let’s

Host 1&2: Choo Choo to Economic Prosperity!