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By Sammy Martin, Correspondent
SENATOR Mar Roxas on Sunday scoredthe
government for failing to cushionthe impact of high price of oil
products as oil hits its record high of $103 a barrel, the highest
price posted ever.
With the skyrocketing price of oil worldwide,
major oil companies in the country add another 50 centavos per liter
to their pump prices.
Roxas, chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade
and Commerce, wants the Arroyo administration to implement its
promised 1-percent reduction of tariffs on oil products to plug
further price increases.
“Where’s the relief our people are looking
for? What else can the government do aside from the token cut in oil
tariffs and besides holding its energy summit that ended in
motherhood statements?” Roxas asked.
Earlier, Roxas challenged the Arroyo
administration to show proof that it wants to help consumers by
easing the price of prime commodities, including services in the
country, by scrapping the 12-percent value-added tax on all oil
products and electricity, or at least suspend it for six months.
Roxas learned that instead of giving the
consumer a break, the government is bent to bring back the 1-
percent cut on oil tariffs, contrary to what it promised. This, he
said, only shows that the apparent discount it is giving is just for
show.
Instead, the senator pressed for more effective
and immediate measures to help the public cope with continued high
oil prices, in particular, the proposed zero-value added tax on
petroleum products.
Malacañang had organized an Energy Summit in
late January, where oil companies had committed to reducing prices
after the government had reduced the 3- percent tariff to 1 percent.
Recently, however, the government brought
tariffs up to 2 percent.
Roxas said that instead of giving these
incrementalist solutions, the government must give back to the
people the money they paid for the 12-percent VAT on oil, stressing
that people need money now, more than the government needs taxes.
“We can’t continue applying the same old
medicine to a new disease. We don’t have a fiscal crisis anymore,
but the government still continues to impose this tax, despite all-
time high oil prices,” he stressed.
Roxas insisted that suspending the 12-percent
VAT on petroleum products will be of greater help to people reeling
from high prices of commodities.
The Senate Ways and Means Committee, chaired by
Sen. Chiz Escudero, had claimed that the technical working group is
already preparing the committee report after several hearings
conducted, but this will remain unacted and cannot be brought to the
floor because of the absence of a counterpart bill.
“We have our entire nation affected by the
worldwide situation on oil, and the VAT on petroleum products adds
to the pain. We’re asking the government to look [with] favor on
giving relief [to the people] of P4 per liter of diesel, or P65 per
LPG tank,” Roxas said.
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