ROXAS TO BIR: RUSH REVENUE REGULATIONS FOR SIN TAX LAW
STRESSES NEED FOR ADD'L FUNDING FOR DOH, PHIC

Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas today prodded the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to implement at the soonest time the provisions of the four-year old "sin tax' law allocating additional funding to the government's health programs.

"Mahalaga ang kalusugan ng ating mga kababayan. Pero bakit parang hindi ito pinahahalagahan ng gobyerno? Hindi pa nga naglalaan ang BIR ng sin tax money para sa mga programang pangkalusugan (The people's health is important. But it seems the government does not find this important. BIR has not yet released a single sin tax centavo for healthcare)," he said.

He said any delays in the enforcement of health programs could result to more Filipinos falling sick, consequences of which could include a less productive work force, among others, or worse, increased unemployment rates.

RA 9334, which was passed in December 2004, earmarks 2.5% of excise taxes on alcohol and tobacco products for the Department of Health's (DOH) disease prevention program and another 2.5% for Philippine Health Insurance Corporation's (PHIC) universal coverage of the National health Insurance Program. As per the testimony of BIR during the hearing, DOH and PHIC are bound to receive around P30.8 million to P50 million from the sin tax revenues of the years 2005 to 2007.

But while the BIR started hiking the excise taxes on sin products as early as four years ago, it has yet to release a single centavo to the DoH and to the PHIC due supposedly to errors in the Department of Finance's revenue regulations in the calculation of earmarked amounts, the Ilonggo senator lamented.

"Ang kailangan lang naman ay ayusin ang IRR ng batas. Bakit naman kailangang abutin pa ito ng apat na taon? Bigyang prayoridad muna ito ng gobyerno kaysa sa pamumulitika nito (The BIR only has to fix the problem. Why are they taking so long? This government should prioritize this over its politicking),"he said.

He also said the additional funding would help augment allocations provided to the DoH and the PHIC for the implementation of the new Cheaper Medicines law, which he primarily authored.

As part of the DoH's disease prevention program, it can now engage in parallel importation of cheaper but effective medicines from other countries for distribution to the country's indigents.

The PHIC, on the other hand, could expand its members' hospitalization coverage and help more poor patients in paying for their bills.

Roxas reminded the PHIC that its medicine coverage should be limited only to drugs that fall within the maximum retail price (MRP) set by the DoH. The latter is expected to release soon a list of essential drugs and their maximum retail prices.