Enrile pledges changes to tax reform law in Senate return

Former Senate president Juan Ponce Enrile has criticised several policies of the Rodrigo Duterte administration such as the tax reform law that has led to an uptick in inflation, vowing to fix them if elected anew to the Senate.
Enrile, who is seeking a comeback to the Senate in 2019, said he was concerned with the economy following the implementation of the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) Law.
The 94-year-old politician said the situation has gone “beyond the control” of President Rodrigo Duterte’s economic managers.
“We must find solution for the people not to get hurt; if they (economic managers)  knew it was like that and do not have suggestions, it would be difficult,” Enrile said in a radio interview.
Enrile said that while he was not completely opposed to the Train Law and Train 2 or Trabaho Bill, he would revise sections so that the poor would not bear the brunt of increasing prices.
“I will not oppose the bill, but I will suggest changes to avoid hurting people because if you impose taxes on energy and if the value of the peso further slides, inflation will not be resolved,” Enrile added.
The senatorial candidate added that the current situation of increasing prices would be worsened by “rushing” the shift to a federal form of government.
He said that he wanted to join the discussions as soon as possible as there were several amendments that needed to be made to the draft charter.
Enrile claimed that nobody so far had reviewed the charter the way he had.
Enrile filed his certificate of candidacy on October 17 for the second time during the filing period last week as the first time was marred by a mistake on his form.
His 2019 senatorial bid was met with criticisms amid his pending case before the anti-graft court Sandiganbayan 3rd Division, which junked his pleas to dismiss the plunder case against him.
Enrile was charged with plunder together with former senators Ramon “Bong” Revilla Jr and Jose “Jinggoy” Estrada at Sandiganbayan over alleged misuse of their pork barrel or Priority Development Assistance Fund (PDAF), the lump-sum funds previously allocated to legislators.
The Supreme Court allowed Enrile to post bail in August 2015 due to his old age and medical conditions.
Enrile, however, downplayed these criticisms and said he was “innocent.”
“They will never prove that I received money,” he said.