The House of Representatives and the Senate will reconcile today its versions of a measure giving President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. the power to suspend or lower excise taxes on fuel.
Senate President Vicente Sotto III said the two chambers will settle any differences and aim to ratify the measure before the session ends this week so it can be sent to the President for signing into law.
The Upper Chamber yesterday approved Senate Bill No. 1982 on third and final reading with a unanimous 17-0 vote, while the Lower Chamber approved House Bill No. 8418 Monday.
The Senate and House versions both pegged the trigger for the excise tax suspension if the average price of Dubai crude stays above $80 per barrel for a month.
The House, however, set another condition before the automatic suspension or reduction: that the President must first declare a national emergency or calamity.
Sotto expressed hope that their counterparts at the House would adopt the Senate version to hasten the ratification.
Earlier, Senate President Pro Tempore Panfilo Lacson pushed for a shorter period of two weeks instead of one month of prolonged $80 per barrel price for Dubai crude for the President to act on excise taxes on fuel.
Pointing to a Development Budget Coordination Committee recommendation, Lacson said reducing the averaging period of Dubai crude oil prices based on the Mean of Platts Singapore from one month to two weeks will provide consumers faster relief from rising fuel costs.
“With all due respect, two weeks is not irrelevant. It has a big effect on consumers. The two weeks you save on refueling gas is a big deal,” he said.
Lacson said his proposal was prompted solely by the Iran war, warning that prices could spike to as much as $200 per barrel under extraordinary circumstances.
Lacson added the same two-week period could be used to restore excise taxes without causing the government to lose more revenues.
“In fairness to… the government’s efforts in tax collection, we should shorten the period to restore the excise tax from one month to two weeks, so it can work both ways,” he said.
According to him, the government is already facing an estimated P136 billion revenue loss for 2026, which combined with a P200 billion budget shortfall would create a total gap of P336 billion.
The Senate is also expected to act on Senate Bill No. 1965, which seeks to amend Section 5 of Republic Act No. 9367, or the Biofuels Act of 2006, to provide flexibility in implementing mandatory biofuel blending requirements during periods of high fuel prices.
