PHILIPPINES, August 17 - Press Release
August 17, 2022
KAPIHAN SA MANILA BAY INTERVIEW OF SEN. WIN GATCHALIAN WITH MARICHU VILLANUEVA
Opening statement
SEN. WIN: On Monday will be the school opening, I will focus on monitoring of school opening and on Friday we will have a hearing tackling the school opening. Itong opening natin sa Lunes will be the first full face-to-face class opening if possible, because the DepEd allowed the different schools to do either face-to-face, limited face-to-face or blended learning. So may options ang school, but definitely under the policy face-to-face is allowed. Critical ito dahil
marami sa ating mga bata at magulang hindi pumasok for two years at marami ang agam-agam lalo na may mini surge ngayon. So ang titignan natin dito ang vaccination rate ng ating mga bata. Pangalawa, ang kahandaan ng mga eskwelahan at pangatlo yung tinatawag nating catch up plan. You said earlier that the World Bank said 90% of our 10 years old cannot read and then two years silang hindi pumasok, so baka yang 90% tumaas pa. Importante na magkaroon tayo ng catch up plan. In short, we will be focusing in school opening and on what the DepEd will do in terms of catch up and support the DepEd with appropriate budget they will need.Q: On Laptops controversy, paano mape-prevent?
SEN. WIN: The PS-DBM issue is disappointing because our teachers, we should have 60,000 teachers get it, only half get it. In my opinion, this is why we should leave the mother agency because they have their own BAC, support services and administrative staff. Let's leave them so they develop the competency and have accountability. When given to pitC and PS-DBM there is no accountability when this issue is raised, there is a school. Even the village, municipalities and cities have BAC. My point is that the big ones, someone who buys their belongings, have the ability to buy their belongings. This happened to PS-DBM, I support the investigation so that we will know if the government is good, is the government saving, are the products better? If we don't, let's give it to the mother agency so we know who to blame.
Q: On the delay of delivery
SEN. WIN: Hindi lang DepEd, may Pharmally issue also, DOH. I think marmaing agencies ibinibigay sa PS-DBM at PITC, pati ang Bureau of Fire. My point there is, let the agencies develop their own competencies and capability in buying for accountability.
Q: The problem with the law, is the procurement law?
SEN. WIN: Yung procurement law, kasi ang PS-DBM at ang PITC they have to follow the procurement law, anyways. So hindi naman sila exempted sa procurement law. Whether its mother agency or the PS-DBM or PITC both should follow the procurement law.
Q: It is the procurement law that mandates them to go to the PS-DBM.
SEN. WIN: It's the option of mother agency, that option. The argument is that I want to focus on my responsibility, I'm going to give it to others. But we're seeing a lot of money in the PITC. At the end of the year, you look at whether you've used the fund. So what they do is they're funding for their book, they've used the fund. It's a circumvention of the law. That's why, in my opinion, you fund that, you develop the capability to buy your own equipment or items, so that you can have accountability and use your funds.
Q: The Senate investigates this, what remedial legislation?
SEN. WIN: Ang proposal ko is to abolish PITC because PITC nagiging parkingan lang siya and hindi na nagagawa ang mandate nya. And my proposal also is to abolish the PS-DBM. So that the mother agencies will develop their own capability in buying their own items.
Q: Have you filed it Sir?
SEN. WIN : I filed the investigation so that we can investigate it and get the information so that we can file the legislation.
Q: This Friday's hearing all of these will come up?
SEN. WIN: Yes, because part of school opening is to equip our teachers with laptop. We want our teachers to be ready for the school opening. And that's because these laptops are supposed to equip our teachers especially now the whole government is pushing for digitalization. I support that. We really need to do that. Especially now the internet is important. We need to equip our teachers with necessary gadgets.
Q: Interconnected yan sa Rightsizing?
SEN. WIN: The rightsizing is focusing on the mandate of the agency. Those who don't want to, let's get out there, let's put it in the agencies that need people. So it's a right-wing call. So in my opinion, now is not the right time to retrench or to displace people. Our economy is recovering. Yung rightsizing should also be sensitive to what is happening right now in our economy. So people who will be removed from other agencies put in need of other agencies. We also need to reskill and upskill these government colleagues because the skills are now being replaced. So you need to learn automation, computers, digitalization. So we need to invest in reskilling and upskilling.
Q: What can the 19th Congress do in terms of helping the DepEd remove that stigma of being the lowest in comprehension?
SEN. WIN: Si VP Sara brings in a very important characteristic to DepEd, this political will and also political capital. It's important for reforms because we need a lot of reform. And the reforms are not easy, many oppose, many push back. We need VP Sara's political will and political capital. The reforms have already been filed during the 17th and 18th Congress. For example, teacher education. In fact, I talked to her about that. We need his political will and political capital to reform teacher education. Because our teacher education today is not coordinated. We need to coordinate that.
Q: What's the bill?
SEN. WIN: CHED teaches our teachers. 90% of our teachers study at DepEd. But much of what CHED teaches is that DepEd doesn't need it. Because of the CHED curriculum and DepEd's requirement not harmonized. Mismatched. We found that out through a research by Philippine Normal University. So we filed the bill, it's the Excellence in Teacher Education Law that will make CHED's teaching harmonized and that DepEd needs to be able to enter our public schools, knowing what to teach immediately. What's going on again is training with DepEd. So it takes a long time. So we need to make it seamless. Yung transition from College to DepEd. He's a little technical. But he's technical but fundamental because if our teachers aren't good and they're not taught the right thing, when it comes to public schools, they're going to struggle and that's not what students should be learning.
Q: Basically, public school teachers or the government account for more than half of the payroll?
SEN. WIN: Yes.
Q: And this law what happens?
SEN. WIN: It's already a law, approved na ng Congress. It's now being implemented by the DepEd. Bago pa lang siya. In fairness. It only became a law last April or May. It's a new law. It gives DepEd a lot of powers in terms of coordinating with CHED and harmonizing the curriculum in college.
Q: Mata-translate yan sa college students this year?
SEN. WIN: First of all, we'll look for the best senior high school students and give them a scholarship. It's important because our teachers are good and qualified and will look for that. The law will be proactive so we will give scholarships to those who want to study. Second, that's what our teachers need in DepEd. So when they go to DepEd ready they're going to teach right away and they know what they're going to teach. So we're going to change the curriculum in college and requirements at DepEd. And third, we're going to continue the training we're going to do, what we call in-service training. Because our teachers have 800,000 they need to continue training, when they go there they should be out of training. So in the law, embedded yun.
Q: So when will that be implemented?
SEN. WIN: I had a chance to talk to VP Sara and napag-usapan namin itong Teachers' Education Law and they are now in the process of finalizing the IRR and forming the team that will help the council.
Q: How much ang scholarship?
SEN. WIN: So for example, you are a valedictorian in high school, you want to be a teacher you can apply for a CHED for scholarship and the government will give you a scholarship.
Q: May competitive exam?
SEN. WIN: May examination sa College, the normal entrance examination but we are very confident because the scholarship will target the best of the best. Gusto natin the best of the best pumasok sa pagtuturo so yun ang target ng scholarship.
Q: Ang problema Sir we have excellent teachers they go abroad?
SEN. WIN: That's exactly what's going on. I've heard a lot of teachers coming to Shanghai, going to Hong Kong, going to Japan, Korea teaching English so I've also filed a law to increase the salaries of teachers because we're out here in Asia, 3rd to the last time we come to teachers salary so we're less than Cambodia and Laos. We are not competitive when it comes to salary here at ASEAN. Confident ako, in the last three years our economy has been quite strong. Even now with the pandemic, I'm very confident that it's going on.
Q: Sa catch up plan mo, In layman's terms how do you do that? SEN. WIN: I filed the bill calling it aral bill for pandemic recovery. Three are the most important components here. Number one, the reading is important, reading is important. Grade one to three should be learned to read. At World Bank, study nine out of ten cannot understand and read. If you can't read you don't know How to do Math, you don't know how to do history. I fear this pandemic without face shrinking young people. We tried very hard to it blended learning but it's not enough. So we need to help grades one to three that they can read and learn to read. Number two, we will use college students because these college students need to recruit service. So they can be the tutor. They are our army of tutors. Third, we do also tutoring service. We will tap into that college students.
Q: What does DepEd say?
SEN. WIN: We actually give them the proposal and nagtutulungan kami. She recognized that we need to do a catch up program. Pag-uusapan namin yan this Friday.
Q: On College of San Lorenzo closure?
SEN. WIN: First of all, it's disappointing because I'm the one who's going to support all the types of learning institutions because they're teaching kids, they're a private or public, that's what we're doing and I'm sorry because they're a learning institution and one of the most respected because they've been around for so long. And in due fairness to them they said they will refund the tuition although hurt also sa parents kasi enrolled. Overall, we're going to talk about the situation in private schools because of the pandemic close to about 400 private schools. And when private school closes, teaching staff and non-teaching staff lose their jobs first. We've got a subsidy but I know it's not enough but we've got to make sure that the students who have been displaced have a place to go. Especially we have public schools ready sila iaccept. We don't know whether children are private or public schools.
Q: How many shut down?
SEN. WIN: They're pretty much because they're some of the other clients who don't get a job, second to those who have lost their jobs, and a third of those who have reduced income.
Q: Added burden sa public schools?
SEN. WIN: That's why they have to be ready so our enrolment is rising because many of the students in private schools transferred to public schools.
Q: Is the government ready for that added burden?
SEN. WIN: I'm worried about the number of teachers, I'm not worried about the facilities because the facilities are built, but I'm worried about the number of teachers because there's a lot of vacancy in public schools, we've got 35,000 so we have to get updates on hiring procedures. We need VP Sara's political capital because during the last admin slow hiring because of bureaucracy, because the Civil Service will go back to DeEd. Now, with VP Sara he can call the civil service swiftly action. So I think we will fix a lot of bottlenecks when it comes to hiring.
Q: Does the government have the money?
SEN. WIN: Actually, in fairness naman, the government has money for new teachers.
Q: The 2023 budget is still being crafted.
SEN. WIN: Now the NEP's deliberation is in congress. We are looking at the 540 to P600 billion depEd budget. But the overall budget I've seen is a small increase because of the situation. The beauty is that we don't have much debt servicing, so we're going to have to pay less for education. It's important to save now. It's not just a height of tax. Collect collectibles need to save again. Areas that can save for travel expenses can zoom in. Those training sessions can be reduced.
Q: You can't help but think that many rely on business less tax measures, how do you balance this?
SEN. WIN: We have to give credit where credit is due. During the time of President Duterte and Secretary Dominguez, very much tax reform. And these are very difficult but needed reforms. I've seen almost 90% of the reforms they've done. This administration will only have to implement the reforms. So we work with Ways and Means tweaking the laws to be fair and effective. So one of the things I see as the focus of the Committee on Ways and Means is the taxpayers. We've forgotten the tax collection of the payer. We're focused on rates, on efficiency but what about payers. We've lost our minds. We should focus on the taxpayers and the welfare of taxpayers.
Q: Nice to hear that taxpayers welfare
SEN. WIN: Oo, parang sa negosyo, nakakalimutan natin ang customer. In this case, ang taxpayers ang customer. We filed the taxpayers bill of rights, we patterned this after the US and Australia. These are basic rights of taxpayers, for example due process, notice, remedies and kailangan specify yan.
Q: Has that been filed?
SEN. WIN: We filed it na. We've forgotten the payers, we've got to take care of our customers, that's our focus. Second, let's make it easier to pay taxes, for example, we also filed the digitalization. Zero contact tax collection. We've seen when we've had an interaction between the payor and the collector most likely to be in the dark. So we will eliminate that. Yesterday at our hearing, the BIR and BOC were in the same direction as we would have been able to strengthen that through legislation.
Q: Ang problema big taxpayers?
SEN. WIN: The big taxpayers because there's no problem with paying. Small ones are often abused. Yung mga MSMEs. So this law is meant to shield them from abusive collectors.
Q: Vision and mission of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means?
SEN. WIN: R.E.A.D.I.E.S.T is focusing on the taxpayer. So napansin ko in the past few years, taas tayo ng taas ng tax. Nakalimutan natin si taxpayer ang kanyang damdamin. So ngayon the mission and vision is to be a taxpayer eccentric committee. So we will be very sensitive to the taxpayers. We will fix first ang mga problema natin sa corruption, problema natin on ease of paying taxes, problema natin on digitalization. Make it very convenient for the taxpayer to pay and eliminate the abuse and corruption na nangyayari. We will also focus on discretion. Because with discretion comes abuse and harassment. Let's call a spade a spade. Ganun talaga nangyayari. So we will eliminate and try to make it easier for the taxpayer.
Q: What is the target amount?
SEN. WIN: We will focus on MSMEs. P1 million. On the amount of taxes I have to get back to you.
Q: Will a cap be put in place?
SEN. WIN: No. For now, we will focus on process. That's because it's a determine in the TRAIN. Because the process hasn't been focused. So we will focus on that.
Q:Preamble ng taxpayers bill of rights nasa : R.E.A.D.I.E.S.T?
SEN. WIN: Oo andun siya sa : R.E.A.D.I.E.S.T! Ang aming vision sa ways and means committee, the Senate Committee Ways and Means this 19th Congress aims to put focus on the taxpayers and its envision to be the taxpayers legislative guardian that balances the interest of government and stakeholders and ensures that revenues are effectively allocated for economic and social development. Ang acronym ng mission is R.E.A.D.I.E.S.T, Responsive, Efficiency and Digitalization, Accountability, Integrity, Equitability and Uniformity, Sustained Revenue Growth and Taxpayers Welfare. Meron kaming mission and vision para guided yung committee and guided ang mga resource persons.
Q: Paano ang fellow senators na nag file ng tax measures? SEN. WIN: In fairness to our colleagues, papakinggan din natin yun but we will tweak ang mga proposals nila to make sure that we put our taxpayer at the center.
Q: No-contact Tax Paying Scheme?
SEN. WIN: I'm the no-contact term he's a little bit shaved now. The concept of no-contact prevents the taxpayer and collector from talking. That's why we're getting a lot of harassment, abuse and harassment and that concept is spread in all government works. For example, in traffic, on the application of building permits, to many. That's why many in the government around the world, they implement no-contact policy so there is no negotiation. I visited Singapore's customs office I was surprised nobody. All transactions there online all. The same contact with paying taxes. We are developing a law no-contact policy. So when you pay your taxes, file your ITR it should be online. If you have a problem, it should be done through the internet.
Q: On Energy Issues
SEN. WIN: Sen. Tulfo is very aggressive on these laws. His track to the organizational meeting we both had with me, was to deal with consumer related issues, brownouts and high power rates. I saw Sen. Tulfo as a venue, he had a radio program or TV program that he got so automatically that he became an automatic power station. That's good. He made me vice chair, I thank him for the top 10 legislation he has taken from our proposals. We have the same track to continue to push for consumer welfare, continuing to lower down electricity rates.
Q: Complaint vs Cusi
SEN. WIN: I filed a cyberlibel complaint against him because of Malampaya deals. He posted on the DOE website, the DOE's official website, that there were businessmen who were influencing me. Firstly there's no such thing. This is pure public service and public interest. Affected my reputation as legislator. The Senate's reputation for the Senate has been affected because the committee report was approved by the Senate. I am affected and the Senate is affected.
Q: What's the status?
SEN. WIN: We had, finile in the fiscal's office, had two hearings, that was postpone because you had to get out. I'm 2 times as a senator.
Q: May conflict of interest ba?
SEN. WIN: Wala naman. Right mo yan to file and ask for justice.
Q: Is there a prioritization for damaged classrooms in the wake of the storm?
SEN. WIN: Ang DepEd merong quick response fund na pwedeng gamitin and we have to prioritize ang mga nabagyo at nilindol. In fact nagbigay ng report ang DPWH, there are about 100 plus classrooms sa Region I and CAR ang nasira. Ipa-prioritize yan, that's also part of the hearing topics during the hearing on Friday.
Q: What do you stand to tax the UKay-ukay?
SEN. WIN: I didn't even know that the smuggling was illegal because it was the first time the squirrel had been there and anywhere, on the market, at the mall. In fact, I said I was a mayor outside the City hall. I saw the retailers, they had business permits, they had a receipt, they had no problem. The problem is, they're the importers, they don't pay taxes. And my news today many of the importers are being declared for charity but they are diverting and selling to retailers. But the retailers are legitimate. The problem is the importer. We will revisit the law. The law is so prohibited because it's a health reason because we don't know where it's coming from. Secondly it's also to preserve our dignity because it might look like he's wet or bad. But, there's a customer, because he's cheap and he's good quality as well. We will look at the law as to whether there is a spike in the country's economy. Second might put a regulation instead of banning. Third, the importer imposes tax if necessary.
Q: So male-legalize?
SEN. WIN: We have to amend the law and we will study whether the reasons for the ban are still legitimate. But all over the country there's a spike and it's really exposed. When you talk to the retailer complete with the document.
Q: Isn't the textile industry affected?
SEN. WIN: That's also the reason why we're banned because we want to protect the textile industry. In my observation the textile industry has been shrinking. When you look "made in" at our clothes it's Bangladesh, Thailand, Vietnam, nothing more than a country. We're going to export a lot of it. We will also look at how big the textile industry and retailer of the textile industry are.
Q: How can renewable energy be affordable?
SEN. WIN: I'm first on renewable energy, this oil price hike, it's a lesson in many countries. In fact, Germany affected the Ukraine war because almost 40 to 50% of their gas came from Russia. When Russia kills their gas they will be squeezing in the cold because they don't have home heating. We've learned that we need to be self-sufficient and one of the things we need to use is renewable energy, solar, wind, hydro, geothermal, more ocean. The price dropping i've seen him be competitive. The battery can't just lower the price. This is where the problem is because like today there is no solar sun, you need battery, storage. This is where other technologies such as natural gas come in. But I'm very open to nuclear because it's technology and it can replace coal and nuclear now becomes smaller. Before it takes 10 years to build, now one year two years so that. We have to look at technology because technologies are improving. These are the things we should study carefully.
Q: They always has feed-in tariff
SEN. WIN: That's a great question. Those advocates say they are competitive. They don't get a feed-in tariff. I know there are advocates who are willing to compete, Leanne Leviste said, that she can compete. There are developers they can fight for.
Q: What can the lawmakers do?
SEN. WIN: Yung CREATE is a tool to attract new technologies and new technology pwedeng renewable energy. Ang direksyon natin self-sufficiency and we can attract new technologies by lowering down taxes and give incentives.
Q: NCAP?
SEN. WIN: My view of that, the NCAP was created to avoid coer. I've been through a long time because I'm in government so I'm able to get through. But when I'm in the private sector you don't have to go to LTO or city hall you're going to put it. And if you don't want to put yourself in the same place, you'll be co-eded. And to avoid that made it NCAP. I see a lot of change because the NCAP tightens. Like for example, the NCAP was very tight there, a lot changed but changed for the better. Many have been disciplined and have become aware of traffic rules. I think it's important now that the education campaign is going to continue so that people can understand that they comply with traffic rules.
Q: Oversight sa CREATE
SEN. WIN: That's a good point because we've given the FIRB a big power and it's written in law that we're going to give incentives. For example electric vehicles, 100% of our oil is imported. So if prices rise in Dubai, prices will rise here. How do we shield ourselves, let's use electric vehicles. But electric vehicles are quite expensive. So the only way to attract them is to lower down the taxes and to give incentives, we haven't received any collection on electric vehicles. FIRB should be more aggressive and at tune to policy to be self-sufficient.
Q: FIRB is one of the agencies being denounced for disallowing work from home?
SEN. WIN: We will file an amendment to amend the CREATE and portions of PEZA law to allow work from home. I see a micro BPO that has only 10 agents in the house but he's connected to a big agent. But it's good because he saves the fare, no money, quality of life because the child is being cared for. We have to encourage that to be the future and the law we don't have in the trend. We will just tweak the law so that work from home be attune to law.
Q: Kelan filed?
SEN. WIN: We are in the process, in one or two weeks will file it na. Napag-usapan na namin yan.
Q: Why not expand e-tricycles?
SEN. WIN: Approved E-Vehicles, this law gives the DOE great power to rollout charging stations. Because if you don't have charging stations where you charge.
Q: Still not?
SEN. WIN: No more. Now with Sec. Lotilla I also tell him there are many laws that have given the DOE power that is not used, I hope today. One of them was to put charging stations on. For example, Meralco put a charging station in the Senate.
Q: How is charging?
SEN. WIN: He paid. I'm a vehicle owner, depending on the charging station I pay. It's like a petrol station too. That's where you're in a building, office or house, when you're in charge. There's no stop because it takes 3 hours. Unlike the crude 10 mins done. This is not time counted.
Q: In Manila free?
SEN. WIN: That is project of DOE. We have it too. The DOE during the time, loaned to ADB to buy electric tricycles and was distributed to LGUs. I know a lot of that.
Q: Kelan the wedding?
SEN. WIN: That's the questions I can't answer. It's a tough question.
Q: Is solar power energy not enforced in government? SEN. WIN: We're really weak on so-called solar rooftops. Mainly the upfront cost big, the long term cheap. Secondly, the so-called net metering has not been fixed. For example you're in the office, you don't use electricity at home but your home is gegenerate with electricity you can sell it on the grid. I have filed a bill to fix. It's in EPIRA to just fix permitting and adjust the price to make it attractive for us to buy a solar rooftop and sell it on the grid when you're not using it. We are fixing that to make solar rooftops attractive.
Q: Isn't there anything that can be done with expensive electricity?
SEN. WIN: One of the reasons why our electricity is so expensive is that we don't have a subsidy, so we pay the real cost of power and secondly we import coal. The coal is now expensive, reaching $400 per metric tons, $40 to $60 so we've still got a $400 per metric tons, it's the same as Sec. Lotilla. I'm complacent because Sec. Lotilla is technically capable and has experience. He will hit the ground running.
Q: Power thieves?
SEN. WIN: That's another reason. Dyan enters the system loss. It's a system loss because it's technical and nontechnical. If someone steals we pay that. The concept there is that when no one pays a generation payment so that's the issue.
Q: Can't you tweak?
SEN. WIN: We file the bill before but our finile will reduce system loss and be dynamic because the system loss we've had and it takes five years to review. We want to have a regular review to improve and hunt because if we downgrade our system then they'll really beat them all the thieves.
Closing Statement
Thank you very much for inviting me again. The Basic Education Committee will focus on the school opening on Monday and we will ensure that our teachers and students are cared for and safe as they return to face classes. When it comes to Ways and Means we focus on the taxpayers bill of rights. And in energy, we're continuing to find a way to lower electricity prices.
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