House bill suspending fuel tax passes committee level
A committee of the House of Representatives has approved a bill co-authored by President Marcos’ son proposing the suspension of the excise on fuel as a way to cushion the spike in oil prices due to the Middle East conflict.
Malacañang earlier said the President would ask Congress for emergency powers to take such mitigation measures.
The House committee on ways and means on Tuesday passed a consolidated version of bills seeking to suspend the excise on petroleum products.
House Majority Leader Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos, who filed the bill together with Speaker Faustino “Bojie” Dy III, said their bill would allow the President to suspend the collection of the excise during emergencies, like the Middle East situation.
Committee chair’s view
The excise on diesel is currently pegged at P6 per liter, and gasoline, at P10 per liter.
The Marcos-Dy bill provides certain conditions for the suspension—such as the Dubai crude price exceeding $80 per barrel for at least three straight months and a corresponding increase in local fuel prices.
“[The] measure comes amid renewed volatility in global oil markets due to geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, which threaten to disrupt supply and push fuel prices higher,” Marcos noted in the bill’s explanatory note.
In his opening remarks as chair of the committee, Marikina City Rep. Miro Quimbo said “Suspending the excise taxes is the first step we must take to cushion the economic impact of spiking oil prices.”
Other measures
Also incorporated in the consolidated House bill is a measure filed by Dumper Party list Rep. Claudine Diana Bautista-Lim calling for the outright repeal of the excise “on the fuel provision [in Republic Act No.] 10963, or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion [Act].”
Quezon City Rep. Jesus Manuel Angel “Bong” Suntay has three bills also incorporated, one of them proposing an emergency oil price stabilization fund, the buffer fund the government had maintained before the Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998 (RA 8479).
Suntay is also president and CEO of alternative fuel company Cleanfuel, according to its website.
In the Senate, two measures were filed on Monday also seeking to authorize the President to suspend or reduce the excise on fuel.
Senate Bill No. 1940, filed by Sen. Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan, also proposes to amend Section 148 of RA 8424, while Senate Bill No. 1938 by Sen. Francis “Chiz” Escudero would authorize the President to cut the excise and value-added taxes on fuel during global supply disruptions. —WITH REPORTS FROM DEXTER CABALZA AND ISABELLE PECHAY
