Former Vice President Jejomar Binay on Monday urged the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte to issue a moratorium on all increases in government fees, charges, or penalties during the coronavirus pandemic.
“The government should seriously consider imposing a moratorium on all increases in government fees, charges, or penalties until the pandemic is over,” said Binay in a statement.
Binay said the government should also suspend the implementation of new laws and policies that would result in additional expense or added financial burden on our people.
“It is wrong for other government agencies to take care of how their income will increase while our countrymen are suffering due to the pandemic,” the former vice president said.
“This is the least they could do, especially when no additional cash aid or economic relief is being considered this year. There is no more aid, so what they should do is to reduce the suffering of the masses,” he added.
Fees and charges are levies imposed by government agencies and its owned or controlled corporations on the direct recipients of public goods and services they render in the exercise of their mandated regulatory and service delivery functions. They are also known as user charges.
Common examples of fees collected are permits, licenses, registration/accreditation fees, clearance, and certification fees, as well as fees collected for specific services such as medical and laboratory examinations.
The government imposes fees and charges for efficient resource management to downsize the government’s spending, and yet maintain its obligation of providing efficient services to the public, and for cost recovery principle to relieve the government of its funding burden, Binay noted.
It also imposes an increase in fees and charges for the concept of comparability of service to other government agencies, length of time the fee or charge has not been revised, some social services remain exempt from requirement to hike fees and charges, and balance between cost recovery and socio-economic impact of new/revised rates to stakeholders.
The government imposed a lockdown in March 2020 following the spread of the coronavirus disease worldwide. The lockdown resulted in widespread unemployment and shutdown of businesses.