The long wait for E-VAT

After weeks of anticipating the lifting of the temporary restraining order on the expanded value-added tax (E-VAT) law, media were more than ready with their reports when the Supreme Court finally declared the controversial law legal.

Politics temporarily took the back seat last October 18 as television news programs allotted more airtime to the breaking story from the Supreme Court on the E-VAT. Manila broadsheets, except for Malaya and The Daily Tribune, bannered the high court ruling.

Citing the rising oil prices, the Philippine Daily Inquirer noted the bad timing of the E-VAT implementation (“It’s final: VAT law legal: Tax takes effect on Nov. 1, says DOF”). A sidebar story also on the October 19 front page showed how Filipinos would be burdened by the increases in prices of goods that would be covered by the new law (“Prices of utilities, health care, etc. to soar”).

The Inquirer had a feature story on a public school teacher who discussed how he has been able to keep his family’s body and soul together with his meager income. Rosario Bella Guzman, executive director of the independent research think-tank IBON Foundation, provided an analysis of how the new VAT law would change families’ spending patterns, particularly for basic needs such as food and electricity.

BusinessWorld, which, together with Business Mirror, ran articles on the effects of the delay of the E-VAT implementation before the lifting of the TRO, came out with a comprehensive report on the controversial tax. In its October 19 headline, the leading business paper had a number of stories that explained the law in detail, its implementing rules, and its impact on the prices of agricultural and petroleum products.

For its part, BusinessMirror’s front-page article on October 19 titled “How do I hurt thee? Let me count the ways” discussed exactly what its headline suggested: the many ways of coping and belt-tightening during times of increasing prices.

In informing the public of the effects of VAT on the prices of basic goods, media interviewed government’s economic officials, business leaders, economic experts and the man on the street – those who would be hardest hit by the amended tax law.

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