Ni BETH CAMIA, at ulat ni Rey G. Panaligan
Ipinahihinto ng mga militanteng kongresista sa Korte Suprema ang pagpapatupad sa kontrobersiyal na Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion o TRAIN Law, na inilarawan nilang “anti-poor”.
Ito ay makaraang maghain kahapon ng petisyon sa Kataas-taasang Hukuman sina ACT Teachers Party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio, Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate, at Anakpawis Party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao, pawang miyembro ng Makabayan bloc sa Kamara.
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Hiniling nila sa Korte Suprema na magpalabas ito ng temporary restraining order (TRO) laban sa pagpapatupad ng TRAIN o Republic Act No. 10963.
Nais din nila na ideklara ng Korte Suprema na unconstitutional ang TRAIN, dahil ito ay naratipikahan umano ng Kamara de Representantes at nilagdaan ni Pangulong Rodrigo Duterte nang may paglabag sa panuntunan ng Mababang Kapulungan, at sa 1987 Constitution.
Respondent sa nasabing petisyon sina Pangulong Duterte, House Speaker Pantaleon Alvarez, Deputy Speaker Raneo Abu, Majority Leader Rodolfo Fariñas, at Deputy Majority Leader Rep. Arthur Defensor Jr.
Giit ng mga petitioner, naratipikahan ng mga pinuno ng Kamara ang TRAIN Bicameral Conference Committee Report (BCC) sa kabila ng kawalan ng quorum.
At dahil hindi maituturing na “valid” ang nasabing ratipikasyon sa ulat ng BCC, iginiit nilang walang epekto ang TRAIN bilang panukala na ipinasa ng Kamara.
Dahil dito, iginiit nilang may pagmamalabis din sa panig ng Pangulo nang lagdaan nito ang panukala.
“There being no valid ratification of the BCC Report, there was also grave abuse of discretion on the part of the President as he signed a document which is not a ‘bill passed by Congress’ and, therefore, has no effect as a bill subject to his approval under Section 27 (1) of Article VI of the 1987 Constitution,” saad sa petisyon ng tatlong kongresista.
Kasabay nito, inihayag ng mga petitioner na bagamat dahil sa TRAIN ay “individual taxpayers such as the everyday worker, teacher, or professional will see from their payslips and ITRs the significant increases in their take-home pay” ang pangkalahatang epekto nito “felt past the four corners of the people’s payslips, spilling over into their daily lives in the form of higher costs of food, water, electricity, everything. It will be felt by those who do not even have payslips, by the farmer or fisher who have to contend with higher costs of production, and even by the unsalaried like a student or simple commuter.
