Hontiveros calls for further measures vs oil price surge

To help ease the effects of the ongoing fuel crisis, Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Apr. 20 called for more measures, alongside the price cuts announced by Pres. Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

In a statement released Monday, the senator said that the suspension of both the value-added tax and excise tax could help Filipino motorists.

“Mas mararamdaman pa rin ng mga Pilipino ang ginhawa kung isususpinde ang excise tax. Dapat ding pag-aralan na bawasan ang value-added tax para proteksyunan ang consumers,” she urged.

Although oil prices are slowly easing, Hontiveros said that it is “still far” from pre-war prices, and there is still a possibility for them to rise once more.

It can be recalled that excise taxes were lifted this month, however, only for kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), not gasoline and diesel.

The senator’s calls came following a continued two-week series of price rollbacks of gasoline, diesel, and kerosene prices brought on by easing tensions between Iran and the United States.

Prices were first rolled back on Apr. 14, with diesel prices going down by P20 per liter, gasoline by P4.43, and P8.50 for kerosene.

Additionally, the president announced Saturday that a second rollback would take effect on Apr. 21, where prices are reduced per liter of diesel by P24.94, gasoline by P3.41, and kerosene by P2.

With this, Hontiveros also called for strict monitoring of the implementation of the rollbacks among oil firms nationwide.

“May rollback, ok yan. Pero dapat bantayan kung susunod talaga ang oil firms at kanilang gas stations sa malakihang rollback, at hindi patingi-tingi lang,” she said.