OP ED EDITORIAL & CARTOONS: MANILA- Higher airfares
Shuttling regularly by air between Manila and his home city of Davao, President Duterte is starting to feel the pain of rising airfares. And the rates are expected to increase further after the Civil Aeronautics Board approved recently the reimposition of fuel surcharges, three years after this was disallowed.
Airline companies sought the return of the surcharges as crude oil prices surged in the world market in the same year that the government slapped a hefty excise tax on fuel under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or TRAIN Law. As of last April, aviation fuel had risen to $85.16 per barrel from $63.66 during the same period in 2017.
Government authorities have refrained from pinning the blame for the nine-year-high inflation rate on the tax reform law and the fuel excise tax as the administration pushes for TRAIN 2. But the higher airfare is just the latest consequence of the combination of high crude oil prices and the fuel excise tax.
Steeper airfares mean additional costs for both passengers and cargo. Taxpayers will see a surge in the expenditures for the domestic travels of public officials, including congressmen who also shuttle regularly between their districts and Metro Manila.
Inevitably, the higher logistics costs are passed on to consumers. Goods that must be transported quickly by air even within the country are sure to cost more. Among these are highly perishable food products and many frozen items.
. – SPACE RESERVE FOR YOUR ADVERTISEMENT –
This is certain to further kick up inflation figures, as food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for the biggest component of the latest inflation rate. As the President personally monitored relief efforts in the wake of Typhoon Ompong yesterday, his transport secretary pointed out that transportation is a major component in food costs.
The country cannot do anything about world crude oil prices, but the government can do something about the fuel excise tax. With economic managers refusing to budge on this, however, and the President listening to them, there is little relief in sight for surging food costs. / The Philippine Star
7.1. Clear vision – Tribune – Rise to the occasion
.
Time’s running out
.
7.2. Manila Bulletin –World watches unusual events taking place in US
.
7.3. The Manila Standard – No place for politics
7.4. The Manila Times – PRICES OF CANNED GOODS TO GO UP
7.6 The Philippine Star – Higher airfares
8.0. The Straits Times
The Straits Times says:
Another step in long road to peace
.
It has been just three months since United States President Donald Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore for their historic summit. The talk now is of plans for yet another meeting in the coming months. The Singapore Summit on June 12 was ground-breaking. A second summit, coming soon after the first, begs the question: To what end? Analysts wary of Pyongyang’s intentions argue that Mr Kim’s promise of working towards the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula was dangerously vague as it left him too much wriggle room. They also believe he has not done much to follow up since, other than symbolic gestures that included, most recently, not trotting out menacing missile displays.
Meanwhile, Mr Kim wants Washington to first come up with more incentives, chiefly a declaration formally ending the Korean War. But it is unlikely the US will readily declare peace and normalise ties with the North until Pyongyang has completely and verifiably dismantled its nuclear programme – a demand the US has made clear.
TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE: https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/another-step-in-long-road-to-peace
.
All photographs, news, editorials, opinions, information, data, others have been taken from the Internet ..aseanews.net | [email protected] |.For comments, Email to :D’Equalizer | [email protected] | Contributor
