This month I have been interviewed on three platforms.
1. TV, Agenda by Cito Beltran last Thursday Sept 21, about the proposed suspension of excise tax on fuel products, see below.
2. Radio, AM radio RMN DXBC in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte last Sept. 14, about illicit tobacco and excise tax on tobacco, https://www.facebook.com/rmndxbcbutuan693/videos/354937966861667.
I was also interviewed in RMN's DXDZ Davao hosted by June Duterte, and DXRZ Zamboanga City hosted by Marlon Simbajon last Sept. 12 on the same subject. Illicit tobacco is more rampant in Mindanao than Luzon and Visayas because most illegal tobacco come from the porous south, from Malaysia, Indonesia, even from China and Vietnam.
Test-based SUC admission policy will magnify middle-income students’ advantages — PHINMA Education
September 4, 2023 | 8:40 pm
Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson
"... Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr., president of a research consultancy and of the Minimal Government Thinkers think tank, said the government should concentrate on subsidizing basic education tuition.
“Free education for public elementary and secondary education is understandable. But not so in public tertiary education,” he said in a Viber message...
Meanwhile, Mr. Oplas recommended privatizing state universities.
“All state universities including the University of the Philippines should become private, not abolished. Then all university students will become scholars via government vouchers, say P60,000 per year per student. If a student enrolls in a P150,000 a year university, his or her parents or guardian must pay the balance of P90,000. If a student enrolls in a P60,000 a year university, then no additional payment,” he said.
Mr. Oplas said that this way, the government funds students, and not state universities.
He said such an approach would result in “equal privilege for all tertiary students, no budgetary favoritism as in the current system.”
“All universities will compete to attract more students, improve their education services,” he added."
PHL global economic freedom rating slips
September 21, 2023 | 8:47 pm
John Victor D. Ordoñez
"... Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr., founder of the think tank Minimal Government Thinkers, said the index likely reflected the effect of lockdowns on the regulation of businesses in 2021.
“The worst lockdown policies in Asia were done in the Philippines — massive closure of businesses, public transportation, etc.,” he said in a Viber message."
House version of MUP reform may still pose fiscal risks
September 22, 2023 | 12:32 am
Luisa Maria Jacinta C. Jocson
"... Bienvenido S. Oplas, Jr., president of a research consultancy, said the MUP pension system is “very unfair to taxpayers.”
“There is a double standard in the treatment of government personnel. MUP are ‘special’ while government doctors and nurses, government teachers and professors, government agriculturists and engineers, are not special. Whenever the budget deficit remains high, whenever public borrowings and annual interest payment remains high, we can partly blame the ‘special’ MUP pension system. It is a big deficit generator now,” he said in a Viber message."
No comments:
Post a Comment