Youth solon slams P-Noy for hiking gov’t fees

Kabataan Partylist Rep. Raymond Palatino slammed President Benigno Aquino III for releasing Administrative Order No. 31, which authorizes all government offices and attached agencies to increase rates for various government fees and charges.

Administrative Order No. 31 (AO No. 31), which was signed by Aquino on October 1, directs and authorizes all "heads of departments, bureaus, commissions, agencies, offices and instrumentalities of the national government, including government-owned and/or controlled corporations, to rationalize the rates of their fees and charges, increase their existing rates and impose new fees and charges."

"Directing government offices to rationalize and increase fees is the height of P-Noy's insensitivity to the plight of the Filipino masses. With the blanket imposition of new and higher fees, the government has now turned into a full-scale profit-seeking business," Palatino said.

"Administrative Order No. 31 has far-reaching effects – from the cost of acquiring NSO-certified birth certificates, to passport processing and even document certification in various government offices – all of these fees may soon increase because of P-Noy's order," the youth solon explained.

AO No. 31 states that "the rates of fees and charges collected must be just and reasonable to enable the government to effectively provide services without straining the national government's resources."

"Essentially, what this administrative order wants is to squeeze more money from citizens. May bago na ngang panukalang sin tax, dadagdag pa ito. Paano na ang mga maliliit nating kababayan, na walang-wala?" Palatino said. "The country is in a perennial crisis, our people are hungry and jobless. Clearly, P-Noy has lost touch with the condition of our people," he added.

Palatino added that local government units may take AO No. 31 as a cue to also increase fees. "It is really very alarming. LGUs may follow suit," he said. "As such, we call on LGUs not to heed AO No. 31."

The youth solon also raised fears that AO No. 31 may trickle down to state universities and colleges (SUCs), which are also government agencies. "Miscellaneous fees in SUCs have ballooned in recent years, with some SUCs even imposing fees that are higher than the students' actual tuition. With this order, the administration of SUCs may again justify the imposition of new and higher fees," Palatino said.

The youth solon called on Aquino to "immediately withdraw" AO No. 31. "The government has been pushing for the digitization of government documents, which would supposedly bring down the cost of transactions. Why push for fee hikes? Before the government orders for new fee hikes and charges, it should first account for all fees that it has collected in the past years," Palatino said.

"It is ironic that the government, which should supposedly be at the forefront of providing basic services to the people, would be the one to impose such fee hikes. The youth condemns such an insensitive action," Palatino ended.###