Taxing OFW remittances is 'foolish' - Defensor
04/11/2007 | 06:18 PM
It is "foolish" and "counter-productive" to remove the tax privileges enjoyed by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) whose remittances keep the Philippine economy afloat, according to administration senatorial candidate Michael Defensor.
The former presidential chief of staff quickly rejected the move to revive a plan first broached in 2004 to tax the remittances of Filipino professionals abroad.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) however clarified that the proposal would not cover factory workers and domestic helpers.
"OFWs, whether lowly paid domestic helpers or construction laborers, or highly paid sailors, nurses or engineers, definitely deserve to continue to enjoy their tax-exempt benefit, insofar as their foreign-sourced earnings are concerned," Defensor stressed.
"OFWs render a huge service to the country simply by sending home their earnings. They continue to drive up domestic consumption spending as well as passive and productive local investments in dollar deposits, purchases of insurance and real estate, and highly productive micro enterprises," he said.
"Besides, OFWs and their families already get taxed indirectly when they spend for consumption or investments here," Defensor pointed out.
"When a Filipino nurse working in the U.S. comes home and buys a residential condominium unit here, Philippine taxes are paid. When the nurse sends money here that is spent at Jollibee or SM, consumption taxes get paid," he further explained.
Defensor credited the country’s economic sustainability to the steadily increasing remittances of OFWs. "Instead of the peso plunging as previously warned by a group of U.P. economists, the local currency is now hovering at six-year highs," he said.
Defensor said the exceptionally strong peso has also enabled government as well as private companies to reduce their dollar-denominated obligations, thus lowering considerably the country's foreign indebtedness.
In 2004, the Department of Finance pushed a similar proposal to remove the OFWs’ income tax exemption as one of several measures to collect more revenues for the government.
The DoF had to withdraw its proposal from Congress after OFWs and their families launched protest actions against it.
It claimed then that the now-defunct Presidential Task Force on Tax Reforms did not intend to exempt all OFWs from income tax. It said that the plan, in fact, was to tax only those earning more than $6,000 annually and to exempt the "small income" workers.
The department proposed that Congress "make the high-paying overseas Filipinos, like professionals and technical workers, share in the burden of financing the public sector" by re-imposing the income tax on those with annual gross incomes of at least $6,000.
The revived plan seemingly supports the recommendations of the De La Salle University’s business and economics experts who conducted a study, titled, “The Economic Impacts of International Migration: A Case Study on the Philippines," to impose income tax on remittances from highly paid OFWs.
The study done by Tereso Tullao, Michael Angelo Cortez and Edward See said taxing the remittances of Filipino professionals from abroad would help reduce the economic ills of overseas deployment has generated. “Such a move can arrest the possible hollowing effects on industries and mitigate the loss in international competition," the group said.
Internal Revenue Commissioner Jose Mario C. Buñag, however said in an interview that there has been no "definite decision" on whether to push for the removal of OFWs’ income tax exemption or not, according to a BusinessWorld report.
In the event the plan is approved, the tax would cover only professionals such as bank employees and doctors "who make so much money."
Taxing OFWs will require an amendment of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, which presently provides that "an individual citizen of the Philippines who is working and deriving income from abroad as an overseas contract worker is taxable only on income from sources within the Philippines," the report noted.
The Code further provides that Filipino seamen working in vessels "engaged exclusively in international trade" are considered overseas workers.
The code does not distinguish between skilled and non-skilled workers.
Before the 1997 tax reform, OFWs were subjected to income tax. Since they also paid income taxes abroad, their payments were used as credits against their liabilities in the Philippines.
The government has documented around eight million Filipinos presently working abroad, remitting a record $12.76 billion back to the Philippines in 2006. They remitted $10.69 billion in 2005.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said the higher deployment of workers and better remittance channels accounted for the increase. The bank expects remittances to further go up to $14.7 billion this year. - GMANews.TV
The former presidential chief of staff quickly rejected the move to revive a plan first broached in 2004 to tax the remittances of Filipino professionals abroad.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) however clarified that the proposal would not cover factory workers and domestic helpers.
"OFWs, whether lowly paid domestic helpers or construction laborers, or highly paid sailors, nurses or engineers, definitely deserve to continue to enjoy their tax-exempt benefit, insofar as their foreign-sourced earnings are concerned," Defensor stressed.
"OFWs render a huge service to the country simply by sending home their earnings. They continue to drive up domestic consumption spending as well as passive and productive local investments in dollar deposits, purchases of insurance and real estate, and highly productive micro enterprises," he said.
"Besides, OFWs and their families already get taxed indirectly when they spend for consumption or investments here," Defensor pointed out.
"When a Filipino nurse working in the U.S. comes home and buys a residential condominium unit here, Philippine taxes are paid. When the nurse sends money here that is spent at Jollibee or SM, consumption taxes get paid," he further explained.
Defensor credited the country’s economic sustainability to the steadily increasing remittances of OFWs. "Instead of the peso plunging as previously warned by a group of U.P. economists, the local currency is now hovering at six-year highs," he said.
Defensor said the exceptionally strong peso has also enabled government as well as private companies to reduce their dollar-denominated obligations, thus lowering considerably the country's foreign indebtedness.
In 2004, the Department of Finance pushed a similar proposal to remove the OFWs’ income tax exemption as one of several measures to collect more revenues for the government.
The DoF had to withdraw its proposal from Congress after OFWs and their families launched protest actions against it.
It claimed then that the now-defunct Presidential Task Force on Tax Reforms did not intend to exempt all OFWs from income tax. It said that the plan, in fact, was to tax only those earning more than $6,000 annually and to exempt the "small income" workers.
The department proposed that Congress "make the high-paying overseas Filipinos, like professionals and technical workers, share in the burden of financing the public sector" by re-imposing the income tax on those with annual gross incomes of at least $6,000.
The revived plan seemingly supports the recommendations of the De La Salle University’s business and economics experts who conducted a study, titled, “The Economic Impacts of International Migration: A Case Study on the Philippines," to impose income tax on remittances from highly paid OFWs.
The study done by Tereso Tullao, Michael Angelo Cortez and Edward See said taxing the remittances of Filipino professionals from abroad would help reduce the economic ills of overseas deployment has generated. “Such a move can arrest the possible hollowing effects on industries and mitigate the loss in international competition," the group said.
Internal Revenue Commissioner Jose Mario C. Buñag, however said in an interview that there has been no "definite decision" on whether to push for the removal of OFWs’ income tax exemption or not, according to a BusinessWorld report.
In the event the plan is approved, the tax would cover only professionals such as bank employees and doctors "who make so much money."
Taxing OFWs will require an amendment of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997, which presently provides that "an individual citizen of the Philippines who is working and deriving income from abroad as an overseas contract worker is taxable only on income from sources within the Philippines," the report noted.
The Code further provides that Filipino seamen working in vessels "engaged exclusively in international trade" are considered overseas workers.
The code does not distinguish between skilled and non-skilled workers.
Before the 1997 tax reform, OFWs were subjected to income tax. Since they also paid income taxes abroad, their payments were used as credits against their liabilities in the Philippines.
The government has documented around eight million Filipinos presently working abroad, remitting a record $12.76 billion back to the Philippines in 2006. They remitted $10.69 billion in 2005.
The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas said the higher deployment of workers and better remittance channels accounted for the increase. The bank expects remittances to further go up to $14.7 billion this year. - GMANews.TV
READER'S FEEDBACK:
From: Louie Mayor in Nanjing, China
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 5:15 PM
Nung nasa Pilipinas pa ako, napakalaki ng binabayaran kong tax, wala halos matulong sa pamilya ko.
Ngayong nasa labas na ko, nagbabayad ako ng tax dito, pero me natitira pa para padala sa mga kamag-anak ko.
Ngayon kung ita-tax pa ako ulit ng gubyerno ng Pilipinas, na halos wala namang ginagawa para sa bayan, sa gubyerno na lang mapupunta yung pera na pede ko pa sana ibigay sa mga kamag-anak ko.
Nagbabayad naman na lahat pati mahihirap ng 12% VAT, bakit pa naghahanap ng ibang mapipiga?
Eh yung pangongolekta ba ng tax ng mga negosyante and mga mayayaman, inayos na nila? Nabawasan ba nila corruption?
Bakit kami magbibigay ng pera na di naman nila kayang pangalagaan?
Hindi ba nila naisip na mas efficient pa ang remittance kesa sa tax collection when it comes to ensuring that the money benefits the people?
Over taxation is economic sabotage especially for the Filipino majority, who cannot afford to circumvent tax collection.
Remember that economic sabotage is punishable by death and that fate will find a way to implement this law. -
From: Balian in Singapore
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 10:17 AM
BIR is nothing but full of crap, why don't they make their tax collection more efficient, so they can generate more income.
Why these people now targeting Filipinos working abroad regardless how much high they earn, they sacrifice a lot, leaving their wife and kids, just to be able to earn money to provide future for their kids.
How will Filipino locally and abroad be encouraged to pay tax to the government, yet everyday, we see how these government spend money unwisely(lamp post that cost millions.. etc).
Who ever think of these is sick, they don't know how hard to be away to our love ones.
Now i know how some of our Filipino people felt the anger about the government.
From: pedro in Doha, Qatar
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 4:24 PM
Hoy Gising! Ang sistema nyo ang may problema.
Trabahong tamad na naman itong gagawin nyo, lolokohin nyo na naman kaming mga pinoy. ma-sosolve ngaba ang problema nyong sinasabi kung ita-tax nyo kaming mga pinoy sa abroad?...
HINDI!, dahil palpak ang pamamalakad nyo! parang awa nyo na Number 1 corrupt na ang pilipinas namin huwag nyo nang palalain pa!! ...
may expert economic study pa kayong nalalaman, mahiya naman kayo!
From: Abner Maliwag in Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 5:23 PM
As an OFW, I wholeheartedly agree with Sen. Defensor. I even went out of my way to compute what the tax would be based on the Philippine computation of Income tax
(see:http://www.gov.ph/faqs/business_gettingstarted.asp).
Of course, I don't know for sure if this will be the formula they will use but if we use it and compute for the tax due of an OFW earning US$ 500.00/ month (US$ 6,000.00 annually) this is what the computation of his tax will be:
US$ 500 x Php 48.00 exchange rate = Php 24,000 Annual Income: Php 24k X 12 mos = P288,000 (which falls under the "over 250k but not over 500k tax bracket so that the overall tax due is P50k + 30% of the excess over P 250k)
So:
Tax due is P50k + (34% of Php 288k - Php 250k) Or = P 50k + (34% of P38k) Or = P50k + (P 38k x 34%) = P50k + P11,400 Equals = Php 61,400 na tax due per annum or P 5,116.00/mo
This gets bigger if your income is higher than US$ 500. if you were an engineer and earning a basic of US$ 1,200 your tax due is P 15k per month.
I don't know with the rest of you but this is too much. Its not like in the Philippines where if you were earning as much as P50 k per month, you can tell your boss to write off a basic of P25k and the rest as a P 25k allowance so that only 25k is taxable.
You do that here in saudi and your Arab boss will most likely not honor your
agreement.
Hopefully, someone realizes that they will only be killing off the goose that lays the golden egg if they push through with this proposal.
I'm pretty sure it will just encourage OFWs to seriously consider migrating to another country with their families where at least the taxes they pay are being used to improve services and not just line the pockets of corrupt politicos.
From: Napski in San Francisco, California, USA
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 12:55 AM
Di kaya double taxation na yun? nag ta-tax ka na nga sa ibang bansa, 33% of your income tapos ta-taxan ka pa sa pinas?
Di ba nila alam kung gaano kahirap ang umalis ng bansa para iwan ang pamilya mo at para may maipakain ka sa pamilya mo sa pinas?
Kung ginagawa ba ng mga tao sa BIR ang trabaho nila, kesa mangurakot, e di umuunlad ang pinas.
Bakit di nila gawin Cash-less payment in all government transaction, they can pay via credit card or bank account or any other means basta wag lang cash, para di ibulsa ng mga kurakot na worker ng government agencies.
Anyway, I dont agree to this idea and I believe that most of the OFW agrees with me.
Yan lang po, inaasahan po namin na umangat ang kabuhayan ng mga Pilipino dahil sa pinapadala naming remittance buwan-buwan.
Mabuhay po tayong lahat!
From: Lester (pretselz@gmail.com) in Dubai, UAE
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 8:03 PM
I am APALLED at this brazen show of greed and disrespect at us OFWs who suffer being away from our families, if only to help our loved ones, and the Philippines indirectly.
Jose Mario C. Buñag (you do not deserve any inkling of respect), keep in mind HOW MUCH MONEY WE OFWs BRING TO THE PHILIPPINES! AND CONSIDER HOW MUCH MONEY THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS MAKE FROM US (Immigration, Customs, OWWA, etc).
WE ARE THE REASON WHY THE PHILIPPINES HAVE RECEIVED $12.76 **BILLION** UNITED STATES DOLLARS (PHP 600++ BILLION) just for last year alone. And
you have the NERVE TO SAY THAT WE SHOULD "share in the burden of financing the public sector"???
WHY DON'T YOU TRULY DO YOUR JOB and clean up your department of scumbags who continue to drain your collections via under-the-table transactions.
Doing that alone should generate much needed funds. To say that I am disgusted, when I'm dealing with your department, is probably the understatement of the year. And just in case you don't know it, so do a lot of OFWs abroad feel the same way about you.
Or better yet, why don't you leave your family, and see them only a few days per year, work your @ss off daily in a foreign country where you are treated as second class citizens, AND THEN, VOLUNTARILY SEND A PORTION OF YOUR MUCH-EARNED
INCOME to BIR. THEN TELL US IF THAT SOUNDS FAIR!
From: Beth in Mississauga, Canada
Sent: Friday, May 9, 2008 4:32 pm
> Why Is The Philippines Poor?
>
> Dear Friends,
>
>
> Please READ THIS.
>
> THE DIFFERENCE
>
>
> The difference between the poor countries and the rich ones is not the
> age of the country:
>
> This can be shown by countries like India & Egypt , that are more than
> 2000 years old, but are poor.
>
>
>
> On the other hand, Canada , Australia & New Zealand , that 150 years
> ago were inexpressive, today are developed countries, and are rich.
>
>
> The difference between poor & rich countries does not reside in the
> available natural resources.
>
> Japan has a limited territory, 80% mountainous, inadequate for
> agriculture & cattle raising, but it is the second world economy. The
> country is like an immense floating factory, importing raw materials
> from the whole world and exporting manufactured products.
>
> Another example is Switzerland, which does not plant cocoa but has the
> best chocolate in the world. In its little territory they raise
> animals and plant the soil during 4 months per year. Not enough, they
> produce dairy products of the best quality! It is a small country that
> transmits an image of security, order & labor, which made it the
> world's strongest, safest place.
>
> Executives from rich countries who communicate with their counterparts
> in poor countries show that there is no significant intellectual
> difference.
>
> Race or skin color are also not important:
> immigrants labeled lazy in their countries of origin are the
> productive power in rich European countries.
>
> What is the difference then? The difference is the attitude of the
> people, framed along the years by the education & the culture & flawed
> tradition.
>
> On analyzing the behavior of the people in rich & developed countries,
> we find that the great majority follow the following principles in
> their
> lives:
>
> 1. Ethics, as a basic principle.
> 2. Integrity.
> 3. Responsibility.
> 4. Respect to the laws & rules.
> 5. Respect to the rights of other citizens.
> 6. Work loving.
> 7. Strive for savings & investment.
> 8. Will of super action.
> 9. Punctuality.
> 10. and of course...Discipline
>
> In poor countries, only a minority follow these basic principles in
> their daily life.
>
> The Philippines is not poor because we lack natural resources or
> because nature was cruel to us. In fact, we are supposedly rich in
> natural resources.
>
> We are poor because we lack the correct attitude.
> We lack the will to comply with and teach these functional principles
> of rich & developed societies.
>
> The Philippine gov't. is dysfunctional, corrupt and has no care
> whatsoever with the plight of OFW's. What is this tax for??? for
> politician's gain on their own pockets?
>
> If the Phil. gov't. implement this policy, we are encouraging and
> supporting that the lousy politicians in our country are lazy and they
> don't possess any of the principles mentioned above.
>
> Walang disiplina ang mga taong nagpapalakad ng gobyerno natin kaya
> walang asenso ang Pilipinas!
>
> Politicians are indifferent to Filipinos abroad!
> They want to save the country for their own benefits!
>
> If you love your country, let this message circulate so that many
> Filipinos could reflect about this, & CHANGE, ACT!
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 5:15 PM
Nung nasa Pilipinas pa ako, napakalaki ng binabayaran kong tax, wala halos matulong sa pamilya ko.
Ngayong nasa labas na ko, nagbabayad ako ng tax dito, pero me natitira pa para padala sa mga kamag-anak ko.
Ngayon kung ita-tax pa ako ulit ng gubyerno ng Pilipinas, na halos wala namang ginagawa para sa bayan, sa gubyerno na lang mapupunta yung pera na pede ko pa sana ibigay sa mga kamag-anak ko.
Nagbabayad naman na lahat pati mahihirap ng 12% VAT, bakit pa naghahanap ng ibang mapipiga?
Eh yung pangongolekta ba ng tax ng mga negosyante and mga mayayaman, inayos na nila? Nabawasan ba nila corruption?
Bakit kami magbibigay ng pera na di naman nila kayang pangalagaan?
Hindi ba nila naisip na mas efficient pa ang remittance kesa sa tax collection when it comes to ensuring that the money benefits the people?
Over taxation is economic sabotage especially for the Filipino majority, who cannot afford to circumvent tax collection.
Remember that economic sabotage is punishable by death and that fate will find a way to implement this law. -
From: Balian in Singapore
Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 10:17 AM
BIR is nothing but full of crap, why don't they make their tax collection more efficient, so they can generate more income.
Why these people now targeting Filipinos working abroad regardless how much high they earn, they sacrifice a lot, leaving their wife and kids, just to be able to earn money to provide future for their kids.
How will Filipino locally and abroad be encouraged to pay tax to the government, yet everyday, we see how these government spend money unwisely(lamp post that cost millions.. etc).
Who ever think of these is sick, they don't know how hard to be away to our love ones.
Now i know how some of our Filipino people felt the anger about the government.
From: pedro in Doha, Qatar
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 4:24 PM
Hoy Gising! Ang sistema nyo ang may problema.
Trabahong tamad na naman itong gagawin nyo, lolokohin nyo na naman kaming mga pinoy. ma-sosolve ngaba ang problema nyong sinasabi kung ita-tax nyo kaming mga pinoy sa abroad?...
HINDI!, dahil palpak ang pamamalakad nyo! parang awa nyo na Number 1 corrupt na ang pilipinas namin huwag nyo nang palalain pa!! ...
may expert economic study pa kayong nalalaman, mahiya naman kayo!
From: Abner Maliwag in Dammam, Saudi Arabia
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 5:23 PM
As an OFW, I wholeheartedly agree with Sen. Defensor. I even went out of my way to compute what the tax would be based on the Philippine computation of Income tax
(see:http://www.gov.ph/faqs/business_gettingstarted.asp).
Of course, I don't know for sure if this will be the formula they will use but if we use it and compute for the tax due of an OFW earning US$ 500.00/ month (US$ 6,000.00 annually) this is what the computation of his tax will be:
US$ 500 x Php 48.00 exchange rate = Php 24,000 Annual Income: Php 24k X 12 mos = P288,000 (which falls under the "over 250k but not over 500k tax bracket so that the overall tax due is P50k + 30% of the excess over P 250k)
So:
Tax due is P50k + (34% of Php 288k - Php 250k) Or = P 50k + (34% of P38k) Or = P50k + (P 38k x 34%) = P50k + P11,400 Equals = Php 61,400 na tax due per annum or P 5,116.00/mo
This gets bigger if your income is higher than US$ 500. if you were an engineer and earning a basic of US$ 1,200 your tax due is P 15k per month.
I don't know with the rest of you but this is too much. Its not like in the Philippines where if you were earning as much as P50 k per month, you can tell your boss to write off a basic of P25k and the rest as a P 25k allowance so that only 25k is taxable.
You do that here in saudi and your Arab boss will most likely not honor your
agreement.
Hopefully, someone realizes that they will only be killing off the goose that lays the golden egg if they push through with this proposal.
I'm pretty sure it will just encourage OFWs to seriously consider migrating to another country with their families where at least the taxes they pay are being used to improve services and not just line the pockets of corrupt politicos.
From: Napski in San Francisco, California, USA
Sent: Saturday, April 14, 2007 12:55 AM
Di kaya double taxation na yun? nag ta-tax ka na nga sa ibang bansa, 33% of your income tapos ta-taxan ka pa sa pinas?
Di ba nila alam kung gaano kahirap ang umalis ng bansa para iwan ang pamilya mo at para may maipakain ka sa pamilya mo sa pinas?
Kung ginagawa ba ng mga tao sa BIR ang trabaho nila, kesa mangurakot, e di umuunlad ang pinas.
Bakit di nila gawin Cash-less payment in all government transaction, they can pay via credit card or bank account or any other means basta wag lang cash, para di ibulsa ng mga kurakot na worker ng government agencies.
Anyway, I dont agree to this idea and I believe that most of the OFW agrees with me.
Yan lang po, inaasahan po namin na umangat ang kabuhayan ng mga Pilipino dahil sa pinapadala naming remittance buwan-buwan.
Mabuhay po tayong lahat!
From: Lester (pretselz@gmail.com) in Dubai, UAE
Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 8:03 PM
I am APALLED at this brazen show of greed and disrespect at us OFWs who suffer being away from our families, if only to help our loved ones, and the Philippines indirectly.
Jose Mario C. Buñag (you do not deserve any inkling of respect), keep in mind HOW MUCH MONEY WE OFWs BRING TO THE PHILIPPINES! AND CONSIDER HOW MUCH MONEY THE DIFFERENT DEPARTMENTS MAKE FROM US (Immigration, Customs, OWWA, etc).
WE ARE THE REASON WHY THE PHILIPPINES HAVE RECEIVED $12.76 **BILLION** UNITED STATES DOLLARS (PHP 600++ BILLION) just for last year alone. And
you have the NERVE TO SAY THAT WE SHOULD "share in the burden of financing the public sector"???
WHY DON'T YOU TRULY DO YOUR JOB and clean up your department of scumbags who continue to drain your collections via under-the-table transactions.
Doing that alone should generate much needed funds. To say that I am disgusted, when I'm dealing with your department, is probably the understatement of the year. And just in case you don't know it, so do a lot of OFWs abroad feel the same way about you.
Or better yet, why don't you leave your family, and see them only a few days per year, work your @ss off daily in a foreign country where you are treated as second class citizens, AND THEN, VOLUNTARILY SEND A PORTION OF YOUR MUCH-EARNED
INCOME to BIR. THEN TELL US IF THAT SOUNDS FAIR!
From: Beth in Mississauga, Canada
Sent: Friday, May 9, 2008 4:32 pm
> Why Is The Philippines Poor?
>
> Dear Friends,
>
>
> Please READ THIS.
>
> THE DIFFERENCE
>
>
> The difference between the poor countries and the rich ones is not the
> age of the country:
>
> This can be shown by countries like India & Egypt , that are more than
> 2000 years old, but are poor.
>
>
>
> On the other hand, Canada , Australia & New Zealand , that 150 years
> ago were inexpressive, today are developed countries, and are rich.
>
>
> The difference between poor & rich countries does not reside in the
> available natural resources.
>
> Japan has a limited territory, 80% mountainous, inadequate for
> agriculture & cattle raising, but it is the second world economy. The
> country is like an immense floating factory, importing raw materials
> from the whole world and exporting manufactured products.
>
> Another example is Switzerland, which does not plant cocoa but has the
> best chocolate in the world. In its little territory they raise
> animals and plant the soil during 4 months per year. Not enough, they
> produce dairy products of the best quality! It is a small country that
> transmits an image of security, order & labor, which made it the
> world's strongest, safest place.
>
> Executives from rich countries who communicate with their counterparts
> in poor countries show that there is no significant intellectual
> difference.
>
> Race or skin color are also not important:
> immigrants labeled lazy in their countries of origin are the
> productive power in rich European countries.
>
> What is the difference then? The difference is the attitude of the
> people, framed along the years by the education & the culture & flawed
> tradition.
>
> On analyzing the behavior of the people in rich & developed countries,
> we find that the great majority follow the following principles in
> their
> lives:
>
> 1. Ethics, as a basic principle.
> 2. Integrity.
> 3. Responsibility.
> 4. Respect to the laws & rules.
> 5. Respect to the rights of other citizens.
> 6. Work loving.
> 7. Strive for savings & investment.
> 8. Will of super action.
> 9. Punctuality.
> 10. and of course...Discipline
>
> In poor countries, only a minority follow these basic principles in
> their daily life.
>
> The Philippines is not poor because we lack natural resources or
> because nature was cruel to us. In fact, we are supposedly rich in
> natural resources.
>
> We are poor because we lack the correct attitude.
> We lack the will to comply with and teach these functional principles
> of rich & developed societies.
>
> The Philippine gov't. is dysfunctional, corrupt and has no care
> whatsoever with the plight of OFW's. What is this tax for??? for
> politician's gain on their own pockets?
>
> If the Phil. gov't. implement this policy, we are encouraging and
> supporting that the lousy politicians in our country are lazy and they
> don't possess any of the principles mentioned above.
>
> Walang disiplina ang mga taong nagpapalakad ng gobyerno natin kaya
> walang asenso ang Pilipinas!
>
> Politicians are indifferent to Filipinos abroad!
> They want to save the country for their own benefits!
>
> If you love your country, let this message circulate so that many
> Filipinos could reflect about this, & CHANGE, ACT!
