Senate panel OKs ‘in principle’ emergency powers for Marcos on fuel excise taxes

The Senate Committee on Ways and Means on Wednesday approved “in principle” the proposals allowing President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. to suspend or reduce excise tax on fuel amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.

Senator Pia Cayetano, chairperson of the committee, said she will wait for the House of Representatives to pass their own version of the bill on third reading and transmit it to the Senate before sponsoring it on the plenary floor, hopefully by Monday next week. 

“On principle, those who attended the hearing are united in approving it in principle. But the exact wording, even from the Executive, they have not given us their final version,” Cayetano said in an ambush interview. 

“In principle, the members who attended are supportive of the main principle of the bill, which is to give emergency powers. That’s what we can say,” she added. 

Cayetano said the committee, in coordination with the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Finance (DOF), has yet to finalize certain details about the Senate’s version of the bill. 

“There are just a few details on when the trigger is. When will the President be given that authority to suspend or reduce the excise tax? And then, when will this authority end? So that's the question that DOE and DOF have been working on,” she explained. 

“But we'll be ready to sponsor it as soon as the House gives us their version.” 

Cayetano said there are 10 Senate bills on the suspension or reduction of excise taxes on fuel or petroleum products; one bill on the abolition of excise taxes on petroleum products; and one resolution on the impact of global oil prices, volatility, oil price volatility arising from the heightened Middle East tensions. 

Earlier on Wednesday, Marcos said the measure giving him the emergency power to temporarily suspend or cut fuel excise taxes would be certified as urgent. 

On Tuesday, the House ways and means panel approved an unnumbered substitute bill allowing the President to suspend or reduce excise tax on fuel. — JMA, GMA Integrated News