Amid suffering, QC councilor wants to hike taxes

Hungry and thirsty survivors of Supertyphoon “Yolanda” may have forgotten an abundant food and water source in the typhoon-devastated areas: coconut. Hundreds of thousands of the nuts must have been blown down to the ground by the strong winds of Yolanda and are now scattered all over the farmlands. A coconut has clean, sweet-tasting water and meat that is rich in fat, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals and can be eaten without cooking. It may even be more nutritious than the food packs being distributed to the typhoon victims.

Coconuts saved many starving Filipinos during World War II. After drinking the coconut water, the meat can be eaten raw. During the war, the meat was sometimes cut into cubes and fried in coconut oil. It smelled and tasted like chestnuts, which is a favorite snack during the Christmas season. That is why it costs so much these days. Grated, cocomeat can be cooked mixed with other vegetables to give it more bulk. Its milk is also a nutritious condiment.

A resourceful person can simply gather the scattered nuts, husk it, split it open and save the water, and then feed the meat to his family until the food packs arrive. Or they can continue to eat it to supplement the food packs they get.

* * *

Isn’t it sad and ironic that relief supplies are piling up in Metro Manila, the ports and airports but not enough are getting fast enough to the hungry survivors in the outlying villages, especially the far-flung islands and islets? Reason: traffic gridlock.

Relief convoys have to wait a whole day in the port of Matnog, Sosogon before they can be loaded on Ro-Ro (roll on-roll out) ferries for the trip to Leyte, Samar and other islands. Supplies are piled up at the airports waiting for C-130 cargo planes to fly them to airports in the Visayas where they also pile up.

From the Tacloban, Guiuan and Ormoc airports, relief convoys head for outlying barangays but cannot get through roads blocked by fallen trees, toppled power line posts, and debris from wrecked houses. They need chainsaws to cut the trees and bulldozers to push the debris to the

roadsides so relief convoys can get through. There are few boats big enough to carry the relief supplies to neighboring islands. The Maritime Industry Authority has asked shipping companies to field more boats. A few helicopters from the Philippine and US air forces are dropping food packs to isolated barangays and islets, but more helicopters and more flights are needed.

Meanwhile, it is heartwarming to see so many Filipinos here and abroad and the international community sending help for the typhoon victims. It is heartwarming to see so many volunteers packing food in public and private warehouses for shipment to the Visayas. It is heartwarming to hear homeowners associations, offices, classes and other groups canceling their Christmas parties and donating to the Yolanda survivors the money they would otherwise spend.

If only the help could get to the survivors fast enough. I am reminded of a wagon train of American pioneers being attacked by Indians in the Wild West with the US cavalry galloping to save them. Cinemagoers actually cheer and clap their hands when they hear the cavalry bugle call to charge and the troops gallop to the rescue. The equivalent of such a bugle call should be given to the waiting typhoon victims.

* * *

Meanwhile, in the midst of the suffering of the typhoon victims and the frantic efforts of generous hearts to help them, a Quezon City councilor is showing selfishness and greed. Councilor Victor V. Ferrer Jr. has filed a proposed ordinance imposing a garbage fee on all households in Quezon City beginning this January.

If approved, the ordinance will charge every household from P100 to P500, depending on the size of the lot, to be paid at the same time as the real estate tax. Those who fail to pay on time would be charged 50 percent more of the garbage tax plus 29 percent interest per month. Such greed!

A public hearing has been called by the committee on ways and means this Nov. 22. Since I cannot be there, consider this as my opposition to the proposed ordinance.

1. This is the worst time to charge higher taxes. Can’t Councilor Ferrer see that our countrymen in the Visayas are suffering and need help?  The garbage tax that every household is asked to pay would be put to better use if donated to the relief efforts for typhoon victims. In fact, all the QC councilors should donate to the typhoon victims the P40-million pork barrel that each of them collects. The P40-million pork comes from our taxes

2. Governments impose additional taxes when they are going bankrupt. But Quezon City is not going bankrupt. It is, in fact, wallowing in money. It boasts that it is the richest city in the Philippines with at least P4 billion in the banks. How could the richest city with at least P4 billion deposited in the banks have the gall to increase taxes? On the contrary, Quezon City should donate some of those billions to the typhoon victims.

3. Local government units down to the barangays already get their Internal Revenue Allocations (IRA) precisely to help fund services to their constituents, including garbage collection. The IRA comes from the income taxes paid by citizens, including Quezon City  residents. Isn’t imposing a garbage tax double taxation?

4. Homeowners associations already pay garbage collectors fees, not monthly or weekly but every time they come to collect garbage. During the Christmas season they come more often, honking their horns so that homeowners will know they are there, and armed with empty envelopes that they hand to the homeowners who are expected to return them filled with peso bills. That’s another form of double taxation.