Salaried Workers Carry Burden of Taxes

Citing data from the National Tax Research Center (NTRC), Finance Secretary Isidro Camacho said that in the year 2001, there were 2,605,505 individual taxpayers who filed their income tax returns and paid a total of P80.42 billion.

About 2,079,745 salaried workers, or 80 percent of the income tax payers, paid a total of P66.3 billion in income taxes, accounting for 82 percent of the total collection. Professionals or self-employed individuals contributed only P10.75 billion or only 13 percent of the income taxes while capital gains tax paid by individuals reached P3.18 billion.

In particular, self-employed individuals or single-proprietors paid P10.13 billion while professionals paid only P620 million. Based on these figures in 2001, professionals paid only P20,447 in income tax while salaried workers paid P31,879.

According to the DOF, this should not be the case since professionals are actually earning much higher than salaried workers. Citing a 1997 government survey, the DOF said that salaried workers earned only P582.7 billion while professionals received P1.159 billion during that year. Measured per capita, salaried workers earned an average of P223,642 while professionals earned P2.204 million in 1997.

In the year 2002, for example, only 2.8 million Filipinos of the total 30 million workers, businessmen and professionals paid their income taxes. As of October 2002, there were over 30 million Filipinos in the labor force, about 15 million of whom were salaried workers, 11 million were self-employed and 4 million were unpaid family workers.

One government study showed that over the past 11 years (1991 to 2001), leakage from the individual income tax amounted to P608 billion. This was on top of the P610 billion that were lost to leakage in the value added tax (VAT) scheme.

Filipinos Had Headed International Organizations

Carlos P. Romulo became president of the United Nations 4th General Assembly; Cesar Bengzon, president of the World Court Justice; Blas Ople, president of International Labor Organization; Jose Aspiras, president of World Tourism Organization; Jesus Tamesis, president of World Medical Association; Arturo Tanco, president of World Food Council; Florencio Campomanes, president of International Chess Federation; Justiniano Montano, president of World Boxing Council; Gonzalo Puyat II, president of International Amateur Basketball Federation; Ramos del Rosario, president of World Jaycee International; 

Jolly Bugarin, president of International Criminal Police Organization; Mercedes Concepcion, president of the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population; Lolita Delgado-Fransler, president of Association of International College of Women; Modesto Farolan, president of International Union of Official Tourist Organizations; Florencio Moreno, president of World Highway Engineers Association; Quintin Gomez, president of the 8th World Congress of Anaesthesiologists; Cielito del Mundo, president of World Family Institute Inc.; 

Fe del Mundo, president of International Women's Medical Association; Amelito Mutuc, president of World Association of Lawyers; John Choa, president of Y's Men International; Roman Cruz, president of Orient Airlines Association; Manuel Nieto, president of Oriental Boxing Federation; Rufus Rodriguez, president of World Association of Law Students; Edward dela Rosa, president of World Association of Pharmaceutical Distributors; Esther Vibal, president of International Inner wheel; 

Antonio Delgado, chairman of Boy Scouts World Conference; Marcelo Fernan, secretary general of the Academy of American and International Law Alumni; Norman Certeza Sr., governor of Kiwanis International; Eduardo Chuidian, general manager of Association of International Shipping Lines; Rafael Salas, executive director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities; and Dioscoro Umali, assistant director general of the Food and Agriculture Organization.

MacArthur Was Field Marshall of Philippine Army

Philippine Commonwealth President Manuel L. Quezon appointed American four-star Maj. Gen. Douglas MacArthur as Field Marshall of the Philippine Army in 1935. Attached with the appointment was MacArthur's extra monthly pay of US$3,980 that made him the highest paid military officer in the world, according to American historian Carlos D'Este in his book "Eisenhower, A Soldier's Life".

Caloocan City Has Two Separate Parts

Caloocan City is the only city in the Philippines with two areas set apart from each other by other towns and cities. Its first area, known as the urban portion, covers Monumento and is bounded on the south by Manila, on the west by Navotas and Malabon and on the north by Valenzuela City. Its second area, known as Caloocan II, is a hilly portion between Bulacan province and Quezon City.

Filipino Spread Love Bug Virus

In May 2000, the so-called "love bug" computer virus spread worldwide and infected millions of computer files. The virus, quickly infiltrated government and corporate computer systems around the world. Described as the worst computer virus ever created, the "love bug" wrought damages amounting to US$10 billion. It could not have been big news in the Philippines, if not for the fact that the suspected creator of the virus is a Filipino. He was identified as Onel de Guzman, a student of AMA Computer College in Quezon City.

First 3 Beauty Queens Married Pinoys

The first Miss Universe, Armi Kuusela of Finland won the crown in 1952 and married Virgilio Hilario of Tarlac the following year. The first Miss International (1961), Maria Stella Marquez Zawadsky of Colombia, married Filipino millionaire, Jorge Araneta. The first Miss Asia (1965), Angela Filmer of Malaysia, married Jose Faustino, also a Filipino.

Two Speakers Became Presidents

Two former House speakers became presidents, namely: Sergio Osmena Sr. and Manuel Roxas.

Three Presidents Died in Office
Three Philippine presidents were not able to finish their terms of office. They were Manuel Quezon who died in New York City on August 1, 1944; Manuel Roxas who died of a heart attack on April 15, 1948; and Ramon Magsaysay who died in an air accident on March 17, 1957.