MANILA — President Ferdinand Marcos wants the measure that would reduce oil excise taxes to be “enforced immediately,” Malacañang said on Monday, a week after the chief executive noted that he has yet to sign the policy as it involves a “very complicated calculation.”
The President has not yet signed the bill that would reduce oil excise taxes in the country, as it has not yet reached his office, Communications Undersecretary Claire Castro said.
“The mere fact [is] that the President wants it to be enforced immediately,” she said in a press conference at the Villamor Air Base.
“The only reason that he could not do it is that the bill has not reached the President as of now, so there is no reason for him to sign,” she said.
“After signing, he would immediately release an order to either reduce or suspend the excise tax,” she added.
Last week, Congress passed a bill to temper the spike in pump prices after Marcos certified it as urgent.
But in an earlier interview at a market in San Juan, Marcos said he neither had an idea of how much the oil excise tax should be reduced nor had a target date for when to sign the policy.
When asked who should be blamed for the delays in the signing of the measure, Castro said, “I am not so sure right now.”
“But the words that came from the President are that he wants these emergency powers to be given to him in order to at least lessen the impact of the crisis in the Middle East,” she said.
While oil prices in the global market have breached $100 per barrel, Castro noted that certain policies in the country can only be implemented if oil prices have spiked to over $80 per barrel for at least a month.
“Iba po yung pipirmahan niya agad dahil gusto niya ang batas na ito at iba ang hindi niya maaaring i-implement,” the Communications official said.
“Doon sa ginawa na bill, yung price ay kailangan mag-breach ng $80 per barrel sa loob ng 30 days,” she said.
The Philippines has seen double-digit hikes in its pump prices since late February, after Iran closed parts of the Strait of Hormuz, through which 20 percent of global oil supply passes, in retaliation for air strikes by the US and Iran.
As of March 23, fuel prices are pegged between P80 to P100 per liter.
The government has initially distributed P5,000 cash aid to public utility drivers and is considering releasing a second tranche to further aid transport workers, Castro said.
“In the coming days, the Department of Social Welfare and Development will release cash assistance to affected public utility drivers and this will be done in tranches,” she said.
“‘Yung impact ng sigalot sa Middle East, yan po ang tinututukan ng Pangulo para ma-soften sa atin yung impact,” she said.
When asked about interventions for middle-class Filipinos who rely on private transportation, Castro said the government was offering discounted train fares and free rides.