Accurate economic data sought

Sen. JV Ejercito on Sunday pressed the country’s fiscal managers to be more transparent and honest about inflation and other economic indicators, as the fate of the second tax reform package would be riding on it.

“I will not even think about considering the TRAIN (Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion) 2 package unless I get clear guarantees from our economic managers that this measure will not result [in] more hardships for the Filipino people,” he said.

“This means that government economists need to provide us with accurate and well-studied data and, more importantly, exhibit complete transparency and honesty,” he added.

Ejercito warned economic managers that there would be scant support for the measure if they continued to fudge economic data.

“TRAIN 2 will derail if they feed us with the wrong information and engage in deception as they did when we were discussing TRAIN 1,” he said.

The TRAIN 2 package seeks to lower corporate income tax and rationalize tax incentives.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III on Saturday said his colleagues were worried about wrong economic data, noting that the first TRAIN had been blamed for the rising inflation.