Metro Manila, Philippines – Sen. Pia Cayetano is hoping that Congress will not go into a bicameral conference committee to finalize the bill allowing the president to temporarily cut or suspend the excise tax on fuel products.
The Senate will have its last session day on Wednesday, March 18, before having a month-long break, leaving lawmakers with a tight deadline to deliver the bill to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
The measure, which has been certified as urgent, serves as the country’s response to the fuel price hikes driven by the Middle East conflict.
Cayetano, who chairs the Senate panels on energy and ways and means, said they cannot yet proceed with deliberations as the House of Representatives has yet to approve and transmit its version.
“Huwag na dapat lumagpas ng Tuesday kasi just to give a little bit of time for bicam pa,” she said in an interview with DWIZ on Saturday, March 14.
[Translation: The transmittal should not reach Tuesday just to give a little time for the bicam.]
“But it’s like a one-page bill, so, hopefully, hindi na kailangan mag-bicam [we don’t need to go into a bicam]. We can just adopt one or the other version,” she said.
Cayetano said her colleagues are ready to work long hours on plenary as they can now pass the bill on second and third reading in one day.
Meanwhile, Bicol Saro Party-list Rep. Terry Ridon believes that the suspension of excise tax on oil products can shave off P6 to P10 per liter within the next two weeks.
Ridon, the House public accounts committee chairman, is also confident that the government can still find other funding sources if there are potential revenue losses with the tax relief.
The government is set to provide fuel subsidies on transport drivers and operators this week to help cushion the impact of expensive oil.
