Ayuda sa middle-income family ipinanawagan

Ni NOEL ABUEL

Nanawagan ang isang kongresista sa pamahalaan na kailangan nang bigyan ng subsidiya o ayuda ang mga  mahihirap at ang mga nasa middle-income family dahil sa patuloy na pagtaas ng presyo ng produktong petrolyo.

Sinabi ni House Deputy Speaker at Bagong Henerasyon party-list Rep. Bernadette Herrera, na nangangamba itong lalo pang tataas ang presyo ng produktong petrolyo dahil sa paghina ng piso kontra dolyar na ngayon ay P55.00 sa bawat $1.

 “All the economic agencies must prepare for another surge of inflation because of the weakening of the peso. Hopefully, the weakening is only temporary like when the forex was at P54 to $1 in September to October 2018,”  sabi ni Herrera.

“Economic forecasts indicate we will have high inflation for many more months until the inflation pressures have subsided,” dagdag pa nito.

Sinabi pa ni Herrera na asahan na rin ang pagtaas ng singilin sa kuryente, tubig, at telecoms dahil sa forex adjustment costs.

“Most important now is to keep food and utilities prices low or stable. Rice, corn, wheat, sugar, and corn supplies must be enough to meet the consumption needs of households and production needs of animal feeds makers and livestock raisers,” ayon pa sa kongresista.

“For poor to middle-income households, we should have rice subsidies of 10 kilos up to 25 kilos to P50 kilos depending on households’ sizes,” ayon pa dito.

Paliwanag pa ni Herrera, kailangang bigyan ng subsidiya ang mga rice farmers, mangingisda, livestock raisers, at vegetable growers partikular ng fuel subsidies at inputs at production, processing, postharvest, warehousing, transport, at marketing.

“The economic managers must act fast. They should also be ready for the impact of monsoon flooding, typhoons, and other disasters. Inventories of rice and other relief goods must be adequate and prepositioned,” panawagan pa ng kongresista.

Kasabay nito, iginiit ni Herrera sa Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), at ang water regulatory agencies na aksyunan na ang nakahaing petisyon at kaso kaugnay ng refunds at rebates.