First, they hit our wallets. Now, they’re dodging the truth.

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

So, things just got messy.

It started as a simple, painful truth: the city’s massive property tax hike was squeezing our budgets. Now, it’s become a full-blown drama about who to believe, complete with a mayoral meltdown and a public official awkwardly walking back her own words.

Let’s get the facts straight. The government’s own stats expert in Region 6, PSA Director Nelida Amolar, confirmed what we all felt. She said on a live-streamed press conference that when property taxes go up, businesses are forced to raise their prices. Her exact quote is online; the receipts are there for everyone to see.

This is based on a simple reality: businesses don’t really pay taxes; they collect taxes. That extra cost gets passed on to us when we buy a product or pay our rent. It’s not complicated.

But when Mayor Treñas-Chu was asked about this on Monday, she had a meltdown. And what happens next? The PSA director, Ms. Amolar, suddenly disowns her own statement—a statement that is still on public record. The timing is, to put it mildly, super suspicious.

Now, City Hall and its allies are trying to blame the media, singling out the Daily Guardian for supposedly “misquoting” her, even though the video evidence is clear and other outlets reported the same thing. In fact, it was a radio reporter who asked the question about the effect of RPT on inflation in the context of Iloilo City.

It’s a classic move: when the truth makes you look bad, attack the messenger. But you can’t bully the truth. Never.

RJAY’S REJOINDER

I am also sharing the rejoinder of Rjay Castor, who wrote the report:

My report clearly conveyed that PSA-6 director Nelida Amolar indicated the city’s 300% RPT hike could potentially lead to increased prices of goods and services, as businesses may pass on higher tax costs to consumers to recover profit margins.

It must be emphasized that the report framed Amolar’s statement as an economic effect, not a statistical cause to Iloilo City’s inflation. The distinction is fundamental and was clearly reflected in my coverage.

At no point did I state or imply that the RPT hike directly caused the recent inflation in Iloilo City.

I did not misquote, nor did I fabricate. What I reported was what was said in response to a question on the “possible effects — direct or indirect of RPT in the inflation rate of Iloilo City.” To suggest otherwise is misleading and unfounded.

READ: https://dailyguardian.com.ph/psa-6-warns-consumers-carry…/

WATCH: https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1B2NQLjoXC/ 

My physical absence from the press conference is irrelevant, as her remarks can be independently reviewed in the Facebook livestream.

It must also be stressed that the Daily Guardian was not alone in reporting Amolar’s statement; several media organizations carried the same story as early as Thursday last week, while our report was published only on Sunday night.

What is concerning is that Amolar’s retraction occurred only after the Iloilo City mayor reacted strongly to the issue in a chance interview on Monday. The timing raises serious concerns about the independence of public institutions and whether technical pronouncements can be subject to political influence.

As journalists, our duty is to report the truth exactly as it is spoken and documented. Attempts to silence or distort that truth only weaken public trust and threaten press independence.

TL;DR:

• The City:Hit everyone with a massive property tax (RPT) hike. 💸
• The People:Said, “Ouch, this hurts our wallets.”
• The Expert (from PSA):Confirmed in a public meeting, “Yeah, when taxes go up, businesses raise prices.” The receipts (a.k.a. the livestream video) are all there.
• The Mayor:Got super defensive on Monday when asked about it.
• The Expert (Again):Suddenly, City Hall claims she “vehemently denies” ever saying what she said on camera. Super sketchy, right? 🤔

So, why should you care? (The vibe check)

This is no random political beef. Trust is what’s at stake here.

The PSA is supposed to be our national scorekeeper—the one government agency that gives us the straight, unbiased facts and numbers, no matter who’s in power. They’re the ones who tell us if the economy is actually doing better or if we’re just being told it is.

When the head of the local PSA seems to fold under political pressure, it makes you question everything. If they can be pressured into walking back a simple, obvious fact because a politician got mad, how can we trust any of the data they release?

This whole thing has gone from an argument about taxes to a much bigger problem: Who is actually telling us the truth?

THE U-TURN THAT IS A REALITY CHECK

If your budget has felt extra tight lately, you’re not alone. Now, City Hall is basically admitting that its massive real property tax (RPT) hike is a big reason why. The mayor’s new plan to hit pause and extend the 40% tax discount is the clearest sign yet that the city knows its policy is hurting our wallets.

This shouldn’t be a surprise. Every new cost, like a higher RPT, just gets passed down the line. That’s why the government’s own experts at the PSA indicated this would happen. The tax hike on a landlord becomes your higher rent. The tax on a coffee shop becomes your more expensive latte. In the end, it is always the people who pay all the taxes, one way or another.

Sure, the city had to update its property values. The old system was almost 20 years out of date, and the law says they have to do it. We get it. But rolling out a 300% tax increase when many are still recovering financially was a massive misstep. The timing was terrible.

The proposal to extend the discount isn’t just a favor; it’s a necessary fix. It’s the city acknowledging that its plan, on paper, didn’t work in the real world for real people. Now, the City Council needs to listen and approve this reality check. It’s time to give Ilonggos’ budgets a break.

This proposed tax discount is also damage control, an admission that their policy hurts. But the bigger issue is the attempt to gaslight the public. We deserve straight answers from our leaders and institutions, not political games when the heat is on. Approving the discount is the minimum; demanding the truth is the real fight.

So where does all this leave us?

We’re caught in a political storm of denials, finger-pointing, and a pointless war on words. But let’s be real: this entire mess is a sideshow. It’s a loud, messy distraction from the one fact that actually matters: people’s budgets are breaking.

Arguing over whether the PSA’s warning was an “economic effect” or a “statistical cause” is a privilege. It’s a debate for people who aren’t staring at a higher rent bill or calculating if they can still afford their daily expenses.

We, the people, don’t need a vocabulary lesson; we need relief. We don’t care about winning a PR war; we care about surviving the economic one.

It’s time for our leaders to stop shooting the messenger and start listening to the message. The solution isn’t to bully journalists or pressure public servants into silence. The solution is to govern. Approve the tax discount, own the reality of the situation, and start a real, honest conversation about how to fund our city without crushing its citizens.

Enough with the drama. Let’s demand solutions.