Suspend tax on gasoline, diesel, too, gov’t urged

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian on Sunday urged economic managers to suspend, even temporarily, the excise on gasoline and diesel, not just on kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), amid surging fuel prices.

“The economic managers should reconsider suspending the tax on gasoline and diesel, even if only temporarily, because oil prices have reached over $80 a barrel again and continue to increase. There is now sufficient reason to suspend it,” he said in a radio interview with dzBB.

“[It] should already be suspended because diesel and gasoline are also used by logistics companies and the cost is passed on to food prices,” Gatchalian added.

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“[It] need not be [done] for [a] long period of time, but at least while the gasoline prices are high,” he said.

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READ: BIR suspends tax on LPG, kerosene

Last month, President Marcos issued Executive Order No. 125, which temporarily suspended the excise on LPG and kerosene to ease the impact of surging fuel prices on consumers.

“Kerosene and LPG are used for cooking so [the suspension of the tax] really helps. But we also need to look at the logistics, especially the jeepneys, transportation, our mass transportation. It’s really unfortunate for our drivers, who are much affected when the price of crude oil increases,” Gatchalian said.

Fare increase

Most public transport vehicles, particularly jeepneys, use diesel for fuel. Although the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board has granted a P1 fare increase, jeepney drivers and operators said they would much rather prefer the suspension of tax on diesel.

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Gatchalian, however, acknowledged that Finance Secretary Frederick Go had previously warned that removing excise on diesel and gasoline could cost the government as much as P12 billion in forgone revenues per month.

“I understand that this is not an easy decision because there would be financial losses. But let’s also look at its impact on our drivers and food products. So, our economic managers should reconsider [suspending it] even temporarily,” he said. /cb