PRESIDENT AQUINO REJECTS LOWER INCOME TAX RATES PROPOSAL?
MANILA - President Aquino has thumbed down proposals by his
allies in the legislature to lower income tax rates, saying it may create an
adverse affect on the country's economy.
The President fears that lowering income taxes may result to
an inflated deficit since there will be reductions in the country's revenue.
A bigger deficit may in turn have a negative factor when
credit rating agencies start to evaluate the country's economic performance.
He added that one suggested probable move to avert effects
of lowering income taxes would be to increase the value added tax (VAT), which
in turn will hit the income of all classes of society.
Aquino cited a possible increase in price of oil that may
eventually affect cost of services and products.
So whether this move of lowering the income tax levels would
be beneficial, the President is not so convinced. He said it could be
reconsidered if there was a budget surplus, but given the current financial
conditions, he said the country cannot afford to lower any taxes for that
matter.
- The President said lowering income taxes may also go against the progressive taxation for which the constitution requires, which means those who have more should pay more, and those who have less should pay less, but the effects of lower income taxes maybe otherwise, and may hit the incomes of even the smallest income earners in the country.
Source: Agency
CLINTON SUPPORTS PHILIPPINE AGAINST AL-QAIDA LINKED MILITANTS
MANILA, Philippines – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on Thursday vowed support for the Philippine fight against al-Qaida-linked militants and highlighted the U.S. military's role in helping the country recover from deadly typhoons.
Source: AP
- Clinton arrived on a two-day visit after devastating back-to-back storms last month killed nearly 1,000 people in the worst floods and landslides to hit the capital, Manila, and the country's north in more than 40 years.
- Hundreds of U.S. troops on counterterrorism exercises quickly responded with heavy equipment, ships and helicopters, cleaning streets clogged with debris and ferrying food to isolated villages.
- "We were very pleased that we can respond quickly with our military assets," Clinton told reporters. "Filipino and American doctors worked side by side to help thousands of flood victims. We saw our military forces working together to airlift thousands of tons of food, equipment and other vital cargo."
- During a visit to a three-story high school that was heavily damaged during floods in Manila's Marikina city, Clinton announced an additional $5 million in U.S. aid. She spoke in front of hundreds of screaming students, some waving small U.S. and Philippine flags.
- "We were severely devastated. I hope they will look at how much damage was caused," said Kim Osorio, a senior at Malanday National High School.
- She said a U.S.-Philippine military pact that allows the deployment of U.S. troops is an "important expression of our partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest."
- U.S. troops will continue to provide assistance in the Philippines, Clinton said, pointing to the Visiting Forces Agreement, a cornerstone of military alliance that has been criticized by Philippine left-wing and nationalist forces.
- The Philippine Senate recently passed a nonbinding resolution calling on the government to renegotiate the agreement that allows about 600 U.S. troops to train and advise Filipino soldiers battling the al-Qaida-linked Abu Sayyaf in the country's south.
- Despite years of U.S. military training and assistance, Filipino troops have struggled to contain the militants, who have recently intensified attacks, blowing up bridges, firing mortar shells and setting off roadside bombs.
- "I would just reiterate that the United States stands ready to assist our friends in the Philippines who are seeking to counter terrorism and the threat of extremism and we will be willing to support them in any way that is appropriate that they request," Clinton said.
- The 400-strong Abu Sayyaf has been suspected of getting funds and training from al-Qaida and has been blamed for deadly bombings, beheadings and kidnappings that have victimized Americans and Filipinos. It is also suspected of sheltering militants from the larger Southeast Asian terror group Jemaah Islamiyah, and the U.S. government has offered millions of dollars in rewards for the capture of its leaders.
PHILIPPINE POLICE ARREST SUSPECTED MUSLIM MILITANT
MANILA, Philippines: Police have captured a suspected al-Qaida-linked militant accused of high-profile kidnappings of at least four Americans and dozens of Filipinos in the southern Philippines, officials said Tuesday.
Source; The Star Online
- Last week's arrest of Hajer Sailani, an alleged member of the Abu Sayyaf, in a shopping mall in southern Cotabato city was the latest success of a crackdown that has netted several militants in the country's south and foiled kidnapping and terror plots, police said.
- Sailani has been linked to the 2000 kidnapping of American Jeffrey Schilling, a Muslim convert who traveled to an Abu Sayyaf jungle stronghold on southern Jolo Island but was held by the militants on suspicion that he was working for the CIA, police spokesman Leonardo Espina said.
- Schilling escaped eight months later. Sailani also was allegedly involved in the 2001 kidnapping of three Americans and 17 Filipino tourists at the Dos Palmas resort in southwestern Palawan province, which prompted Washington to deploy U.S. troops to the southern Mindanao region to help the Philippine military rescue them, Espina said.
- American missionary Gracia Burnham survived the yearlong jungle captivity, but husband Martin was killed in the military rescue in 2002. The third American, Guillermo Sobero, was beheaded by the militants on Basilan Island.
- Espina said Sailani also played a role in the kidnappings of dozens of teachers, priests and students in two Basilan schools in 2000. Most of the hostages were freed or escaped, but at least two teachers were beheaded.
- The national police "will not rest until all terrorists and criminals are arrested, accounted for and neutralized," Espina said.
- Among those arrested recently was Dinno-Amor Rosalejos Pareja, alleged head of the Rajah Solaiman Movement that officials say was behind the 2004 Manila ferry bombing that killed 116 people in the country's worst terror attack.
- The Abu Sayyaf, which has more than 300 fighters, is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations. It is suspected of receiving funds and training from al-Qaida.
- Although the government has claimed to have crippled the Abu Sayyaf after several U.S.-backed offensives, the group still poses a major threat. It held three Red Cross workers and several others hostage earlier this year, engaged government troops in fierce fighting and planted bombs, including Sunday's blast that wounded two soldiers outside an airport and an air force base on Jolo, about 590 miles (950 kilometers) south of the capital, Manila.
45 KILLED IN MAJOR BATTLE IN SOUTHERN PHILIPPINE
A major battle between Philippine troops and Muslim guerrillas on a remote southern island has killed at least 45 people, a senior military commander said today.
Source: Reuters
- At least 22 rebels and 23 soldiers were killed in a military assault yesterday on a base of Abu Sayyaf rebels in the interior of the southern island of Basilan, Brigadier-General Rustico Guerrero told reporters.
- “We launched a decisive law enforcement operation targeting the Abu Sayyaf’s main training base on Basilan, but we were met by heavy resistance,” Guerrero said.
- Other officials said the battle died down after eight hours, as the guerrillas fled into the heavily wooded interior of the island.
- Rear Admiral Alexander Pama, a commander on Basilan, said an estimated 40 rebels were killed, but only 22 bodies had been recovered at the scene of the conflict.
- It was close quarter combat, the two sides almost came into hand-to-hand battle, Pama told Reuters, adding the proximity meant the military could not call in air strikes.
- The Abu Sayyaf, the smallest but the most deadly of several Muslim groups fighting for independence from Manila in the south of the Roman Catholic state, is estimated to have about 350 hard-core followers based mostly on Basilan and the nearby island of Jolo.
- It has links with Jemaah Islamiah, a pan-Asian radical Muslim group blamed for attacks in Indonesia, including the 2002 Bali bombings and the bomb attacks on two hotels in Jakarta last month.
- Abu Sayyaf is blamed for the worst militant attack in the Philippines, the sinking of a ferry in Manila Bay in 2004 in which 100 people were killed.
- It has also been in the spotlight for high-profile kidnappings, most recently of three Red Cross officials on Jolo who were later freed. Newspapers said large ransoms were paid, although officials have denied any payments.
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