“Urging the poor to trade stocks because the stock transaction tax dropped from 0.6 percent to 0.1 percent is not empowerment – it’s a cruel jest, like gifting a yacht to someone drowning in debt.”
ONCE upon a time, in a land called the Philippines, a magical law called the Capital Markets Efficiency Promotion Act (CMEPA) promised to shower financial fairy dust on 110 million citizens.
Plot twist: 75 percent of families still can’t afford piggy banks, let alone stock portfolios.
But don’t worry – President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. assures us his “inclusive capital markets” will work better than his father’s last brilliant plan. Spoiler alert: it won’t.
The laughable ’empowerment’ charade
The Department of Finance trumpets CMEPA, effective July 1, 2025, as a great equalizer, “leveling the playing field” for all Filipinos.
Yet, with 75 percent of families – 20.1 million households – lacking savings in 2024, per IBON Foundation, this is like pitching a stock portfolio to a sari-sari store owner who can’t buy her next sack of rice.
The Philippine Stock Exchange as a path to prosperity?
It’s as reachable as a Makati penthouse for most.
Only 56 percent of adults had bank accounts in 2021, per the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, and 82 percent of retail investors lose money in markets, a truth the PSE buries like a bad bet.
Urging the poor to trade stocks because the stock transaction tax dropped from 0.6 percent to 0.1 percent is not empowerment – it’s a cruel jest, like gifting a yacht to someone drowning in debt.
The absurdity peaks when you consider that basic banking is a luxury for millions; CMEPA’s market dream is a mirage for those scraping by on ₱300 a day.
Fake news whining
The DOF’s cries of “fake news” over viral claims of a 20 percent tax on all savings are rich with hypocrisy.
Social media memes screamed that entire deposits were taxed, sparking panic and bank-run fears.
But in a nation where only 25 percent of adults grasp basic finance, per a 2015 BSP survey, the DOF’s jargon-heavy press releases are as decipherable as Sanskrit to a jeepney driver.
Instead of flooding TikTok with a market vendor explaining the tax in Tagalog, the government left the stage to clickbait peddlers.
The result? A “20 percent grab” myth that fueled distrust.
The DOF decries misinformation but sowed the seeds with its elitist, impenetrable messaging, failing to meet Filipinos where they are – in barangays, not boardrooms.
Fairness for tycoons, crumbs for the commoner
DOF Secretary Ralph Recto and tax lawyer Benedicta Du-Baladad hail CMEPA’s 20 percent tax on long-term deposit interest – previously exempt for over five years – as ending a giveaway to the wealthy.
BSP data shows only 0.4 percent of deposits enjoyed this exemption, proof it coddled the rich.
Slashing the STT to 0.1 percent and axing documentary stamp taxes on investment funds is pitched as opening markets to all, potentially tripling retail stock accounts to 2-3 million.
Marcos Jr. boasts of ₱25 billion in revenue by 2030, hinting at funds for public good.
But this “fairness” is a flimsy mask.
Why not a tiered tax – 10 percent for deposits under ₱100,000, 30 percent for those over ₱5 million?
Such a structure would truly dent inequality, sparing the nanay saving ₱50 a week while hitting tycoons hard.
The flat 20 percent tax smells of cowardice, dodging the chance to soak the rich.
The STT cut benefits urban yuppies, not rural vendors.
PSE’s Ramon Monzon claims it lures foreign investors, but this trickle-down fantasy rarely reaches the provinces – just look at the 1990s, when market booms enriched Manila while rural poverty festered.
