THOUSANDS of Batangueños went to Manila this May 1 with Batangas 1st District Representative Leandro Legarda Leviste to call for a legislated wage hike, a reduction in the Value-Added Tax (VAT), and the removal of Executive Secretary Ralph Recto from the Cabinet.
The Batangueños joined other labor groups marching to Mendiola from Welcome Rotonda, where Leviste said that removing Recto would eliminate a key obstacle to the passage of pro-worker measures.
He cited the legislated wage hike approved by the House and Senate that did not get its final approval at the close of the 19th Congress, allegedly after Recto urged the Senate not to proceed with its approval.
He also pointed to the National Minimum Wage Bill filed by Congressman Eli San Fernando, which now has more than half of Congress as co-authors but has yet to be scheduled for plenary voting, allegedly because of opposition from the cabinet led by Recto.
Leviste likewise cited his bill to lower the VAT from 12% to 10%, noting that while no one in Congress says they oppose this, it has not been scheduled for a vote. Leviste said that Ways and Means Committee Chair Miro Quimbo told him the lower VAT cannot be approved because of opposition from Recto.
The Batangueños later gathered at Liwasang Bonifacio, where they had set up tents and marked their 24th day of protests calling for the government to lower the VAT and suspend the fuel excise tax. Leviste emphasized that calling for Recto’s removal from the cabinet would help achieve their objective to lower the VAT.
“Congressmen support the lower VAT and wage hike, but we are told these are not being put to a vote because of opposition from ES Ralph Recto,” Leviste said. “President Marcos may have appointed Recto thinking he has the support of Batangas. But even Batangueños want Recto removed from the cabinet because he has consistently pushed for regressive, anti-poor policies.”
Many of the Batangueños present come from the 84 barangays that did not receive aid promised by President Bongbong Marcos under the Bawat Barangay Makikinabang program on April 24. Barangay captains said they were excluded from the aid distribution because of the Office of the Provincial Governor. Batangas Governor Vilma Santos-Recto is the wife of ES Recto, who has argued for funding aid programs instead of lowering the VAT.
