Finance Secretary Recto’s VAT Warning Rings Hollow Amid Budget Failures and Public Betrayal
Give the Filipino People a Break
By Dr. Tony Leachon
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto now warns that lowering the value-added tax (VAT) from 12% to 10% could lead to a ₱300 billion revenue loss and a possible credit rating downgrade. But this alarm, delivered during a Senate budget hearing, is not a defense of fiscal prudence—it is a deflection from deeper failures.
Recto speaks of debt, but forgets the damage already done.
He defunded PhilHealth, transferring ₱60 billion away from Universal Health Care—a move so egregious that President Marcos himself had to reverse it. In 2025, PhilHealth receives zero subsidy, leaving millions of Filipinos exposed and betrayed. This is not fiscal discipline. This is abandonment.
He now positions himself as “Mr. VAT,” defending a regressive tax system that penalizes the poor. Compared to other ASEAN countries, the Philippines has one of the highest VAT rates at 12%, alongside Indonesia. Most of our neighbors maintain lower rates:
Country VAT Rate (%)
Philippines 🇵🇭 12%
Indonesia 🇮🇩 12%
Vietnam 🇻🇳 10%
Cambodia 🇰🇭 10%
Laos 🇱🇦 10%
Thailand 🇹🇭 7%
Malaysia. (🇲🇾 SST) 6%
Singapore. 🇸🇬 9%
Myanmar 🇲🇲 5%
Brunei 🇧🇳.0%
Despite this high rate, the Philippines delivers some of the weakest social safety nets in the region. The poor pay more, while the corrupt benefit from ghost projects and bloated budgets.
Recto also failed to advise or intervene when the executive branch unleashed the flood control budget booster—a monster problem that diverted funds from health and education into substandard infrastructure. He cannot claim innocence. He was there. He enabled it.
To now warn of debt is to ignore the debt of trust already incurred.
The Filipino people are not asking for miracles. They are asking for fairness. For accountability. For leaders who do not weaponize numbers to justify neglect.
Recto’s warnings come too late, and too safely. He speaks of credit ratings while the people speak of hunger, illness, and betrayal.
Let this be a call—not for more taxation, but for real reform.
Not for more warnings, but for courageous leadership.
Not for more excuses, but for justice.
Give the Filipino people a break. They’ve paid enough.
#RelentlessForChange
Tony Leachon