By Raymund Antonio
During the Quezon City media forum on Saturday, Oct. 19, the former governor said that augmenting the income of minimum wage earners aged 18 years old and above is the first measure he would propose.
“Alam mo iyong kung ano iyong universal basic income? Sa ibang bansa ginagawa na, ang tawag ko diyan, Chavit 500 dahil lahat ng may suweldo na minimum pero magkakaroon ng 500 pesos monthly hanggang sa mamatay sila (Do you know what’s a universal basic income? In other countries, that’s already being done, I call it Chavit 500 because those earning minimum wage will have P500 monthly until they die),” he told reporters.
“Eighteen years old ang ating kababayan, hanggang tumanda sila, 500 iyong ibibigay (Eighteen years old Filipinos until they are old, they will receive P500),” he added.
Singson explained that this would be open to all Filipinos, regardless if they are voters or not.
He said government has sources for this, pointing to large companies that have not been paying their taxes in the country.
“Iyong pinanggagalingan, marami akong pagkukunan niyan. Maraming hindi nagbabayad ng taxes dito sa ating bansa, iyong Netflix, iyong mga Orion, singilin natin lahat iyan, diyan natin ilalagay (As for the source, there are a lot of them. A lot of companies don’t pay taxes here—Netflix, Orion, let’s make them pay, we’ll put the revenue there [universal basic income]),” he added.
Touting his experience in local governance, the former provincial governor said he still has many plans lined up in his platform, but stressed that this would be the first thing he does if elected.
He also thumbed down the lawmakers’ preoccupation with dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo and said that her case should be investigated by the police and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), so Congress can focus on making laws.
“So, tutulong ako sa ating mga kapwa senador para gumawa ng batas. Marunong, magagaling na senador; magsama-sama kaming lahat para tumulong sa ating bansa, so, iyon po ang ating plataporma (I will help our co-senators to make laws. Our senators are intelligent and excellent; we can work together to help our country, so that’s our platform),” he said.
Meanwhile, Singson shared that what convinced him to run for Senate was the existing red tape in government.