Executive Secretary Ralph Recto pushed back at Batangas Rep. Leandro Legarda Leviste on Monday, dismissing the lawmaker’s claims that he has been blocking legislative moves to reduce value-added tax (VAT) on fuel and other goods.
“No one person can block Congress from enacting a law. Stop blaming others and just do your job,” Recto said in a message to Inquirer.net.
Leviste, who has filed two House bills targeting VAT — one to lower it on goods and another to suspend it on petroleum products — had pointed directly at Recto as the reason neither measure has reached a floor vote. He cited a Department of Finance position paper bearing Recto’s signature as evidence of the executive branch’s resistance to the proposals.
“Congress has yet to schedule a vote on lowering the VAT because of the continuing opposition of now Executive Secretary Recto, who also authored the law that raised the VAT from 10 percent to 12 percent,” Leviste said.
The Batangas lawmaker also raised concerns about what he described as Cabinet interference in legislative proceedings, questioning why Congress had allowed the executive to stall a vote on VAT reform.
“We have had enough hearings. It is time to let every member’s vote be known. There should be separation of powers, so why is Congress allowing the Cabinet to block a vote on the VAT?” Leviste said.
In a separate interview, Leviste said he was told plainly that Recto’s opposition was the sticking point. “I was told explicitly, ‘the reason why VAT isn’t cut down is because Executive Secretary Ralph Recto is against it,'” he said, adding an appeal along provincial lines: “I appeal to my fellow Batangas native, let us have mercy on our fellow Batangas residents.”
Recto, for his part, maintained that Congress retains full authority to legislate without interference from any single official.
