SOME senators on Wednesday, March 16, 2022, called for the temporary suspension of excise tax on fuel products, saying the P200 per month per household subsidy is not enough amid the increase in fuel prices.
President Rodrigo Duterte approved Wednesday the Department of Finance’s (DOF) recommendations to retain the excise tax on fuel under the Train Law and provide instead “targeted subsidies” of P200 per month per household for one year to the bottom 50 percent of Filipino households.
The DOF noted Tuesday night, March 15, that there are currently 12 million poor households in the country. These households have around 70 million individuals, said DOF Secretary Carlos Dominguez III.
But presidential candidate Senator Panfilo Lacson said in a press conference Wednesday, March 16, that the P200 per month cash aid is too small, thus excise taxes should be temporarily suspended until the conflict between Russia and Ukraine deescalates.
“Against P200 per month, napakaliit (that's too small). ‘Di kakayanin ‘yun, ‘di makakasapat (That won't suffice),” he said.
“Mag-suspend lang ng three months, hanggang lumipas 'yung invasion ng Russia sa Ukraine. Kasi ‘yun talaga 'yung primary cause kung bakit tumaas ‘yung fuel, e hindi naman permanente 'yung giyera,” he added.
(Just suspend the excise taxes for three months until the conflict between Russia and Ukraine deescalates because that’s the primary cause of the fuel price increases. The war is after all not permanent.)
Vice presidential candidate Senator Francis “Kiko” Pangilinan agreed, saying the P200 per month is too small, stressing it is just equivalent to P6.66 a day.
“Kulang pa ito sa minimum na pamasahe sa jeep at sa bus. Hindi pa makakabili ng isang pirasong itlog. Ginagawa namang mas kaawa-awa ang ating mga kababayan. Bakit tinitipid ang mahihirap gayung bilyon-bilyon ang kita sa fuel taxes?” he said.
(This is even less than the minimum fare in jeepneys and buses. This can’t buy an egg. They are making the Filipino people more pitiful. Why are they giving little to the poor when they are earning billions from fuel taxes?)
Pangilinan said suspending the excise tax on fuel will help lower the prices of fuel and many will benefit from this.
“Muli, panawagan natin na suspindihin ang excise tax sa langis. Bababa ang presyo ng produktong petrolyo, mas marami ang makikinabang, makakagaan ito nang kaunti sa araw-araw na paghihirap ng ating mga kababayan,” he said.
(Our call is to suspend the excise tax on fuel products to lower the prices, wherein many will benefit from. This will also alleviate the burden of our countrymen.)
Dominguez said Tuesday, during Duterte’s Talk to the People Address, that the government is expected to collect P147.1 billion in fuel excise tax and value added tax (VAT) in 2022, and these revenues are already allotted under the budget to fund government programs.
Senator Grace Poe, for her part, called the P200 cash aid for poor families "a pittance."
“Coming in after 11 weeks of successive oil price increases, the government's P200 per month cash assistance to poor families is a pittance,” she said.
“At P6.66 per day, it can't even get one a jeepney ride to the minimum distance,” she added.
She said the public deserves more “amid the battering of the high cost of living, joblessness and continuing impact of the pandemic.”
“The government must not scrimp on aid to help our people feed their families, live decently, return to work safely and spur economic activity,” she said.
Poe is hoping that proposals to suspend fuel tax will be given a serious thought to bring the prices down.
If not suspend the excise tax, the cash aid must be increased, she stressed.
Dominguez acknowledged Tuesday, March 15, that the P200 per month cash aid is not enough, but he pointed out that this is what the government can only afford to provide as of this time.
“We realize this is not enough but this is what we can afford as of this time. And to make sure our finances going forward and especially for the next administration are still going to be healthy, this I believe is what we can afford,” he said.
The targeted subsidies, approved by Duterte Wednesday, will cost the government P33.1 billion, but Dominguez said the funds for this will be sourced from the extra revenue that the government is getting from higher collection of VAT due to the higher prices of fuel.