Gov’t should focus on agriculture development

The response of Mr. Antonio Joselito G. Lambino II (“Department of Finance: editorial cartoon ‘inaccurately’ depicts TRAIN 2, fuel tax,” Letters, 1/28/19) missed the point of Inquirer’s editorial on Jan. 23.

Lowering income tax rates will fatten the bank accounts of rich people, and removing tax incentives enjoyed by industries through TRAIN 2 will definitely not create jobs. And the statistics cited by Lambino on the fuel tax effects was selective to distort the results on fuel prices!

The point is, why should the government play around with factors that we cannot control to avoid rising costs and high inflation?

We should focus on controllable supply-side factors such as food to mitigate inflation rise.

Do we have an agricultural production road map?

The coconut industry, where we can propagate intercropping, has long been neglected. Rice, corn, sugar have no development program, when in fact so many areas such as these are just waiting for development.

The government has to work hard earnestly and consider criticism positively.

WILFREDO LUPOS, [email protected]