December 25, 2024 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — What does the government really do to help jeepney drivers affected by skyrocketing gas prices?
As fuel prices continue to surge, calls to abolish Republic Act 8479 or the Oil Deregulation Law have gained momentum.
This law liberalizes and deregulates the downstream oil industry to ensure a “truly competitive market under a regime of fair prices, adequate and continuous supply of environmentally clean and high-quality petroleum products.”
“In the past, when prices were controlled, the government would absorb any increases. If prices decreased, it was fine, but when they went up, the government was there to cover the rise,” DOE-Oil Industry Management Bureau director Rino Abad explained.
But critics argue that the law has only exposed the country to the volatility of global oil prices and has since granted oil firms the freedom to hike prices without significant government oversight.
Supporters of oil deregulation say it de-politicizes oil pricing and stabilizes supply.
Transport group PISTON claimed that the Oil Deregulation Law “failed to deliver its original promise to lower fuel prices through an unrestricted trade.”
“The government’s role should not be limited to merely announcing when companies will increase or decrease prices,” PISTON national president Mody Floranda has said.
He said the government should be more proactive in regulating domestic pump prices.
Fuel subsidies
The government, through the Department of Transportation, provides fuel subsidies to public utility vehicle drivers, Abad said.
Manibela national chairman Mar Valbuena told The STAR, however, that the regular fuel subsidy provided by the government was supposed to be P6,500, but drivers only received P5,000 recently.
“Hindi maipaliwanag ng LTFRB (Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board) kung bakit ganun po. Once a year lang po halos ‘yan binibigay, minsan wala pa at meron ding hindi nakakakuha o nabibigyan. (The LTFRB couldn’t explain why that happened. This is usually given only once a year, sometimes not at all, and some don’t receive it).”
‘Suspend fuel taxes’
Valbuena reaffirmed Manibela’s call for the suspension of the value-added tax and excise tax on petroleum products.
Under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law, the current excise tax rates are P10 per liter for gasoline, P6 per liter for diesel, P5 per liter for kerosene and P3 per liter for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).
Before the implementation of the TRAIN Law, the excise tax on gasoline was P4.35 per liter, while there were no excise taxes collected for diesel, kerosene and LPG.
Earlier, consumer rights advocate Bantay Konsyumer, Bantay Kalsada, Bantay Kuryente (BK3) also urged the government to abolish petroleum taxes to ease the burden of “our poor and suffering fellow countrymen.”
“If some think that a large tax will be lost to the Treasury, they will think that the removal of VAT on petroleum is greater than the tax collected by bureaucratic thieves,” BK3 secretary-general Patrick Climaco said.
“They have a lot of taxes that are not collected properly and are not fun. (It is) time to advance the immediate repeal of petroleum taxes,” he added.
The Department of Finance, however, strongly opposes proposals to suspend these taxes, saying this move would only hurt the country’s economy. The DOF said the suspension of petroleum taxes would lead to a massive revenue loss for the government, adversely affecting economic and fiscal recovery.
It’s easy for those who earn a lot directly from taxpayers’ money to say this.
Not to mention that high-ranking government officials have likely never experienced riding a jeepney and therefore remain disconnected from the reality on the ground.
Numbering around 200,000 nationwide jeepneys remain a vital and affordable mode of transportation in the country.
With fares starting at just P13, and discounts of 20 percent for students, senior citizens, and persons with disabilities, jeepneys have long been a lifeline for countless Filipinos, offering them accessible transportation.
But with the ongoing fluctuations in fuel prices due to escalating tensions in the Middle East, jeepney drivers are left struggling to cope with the unpredictable increases.
In these challenging times, the country owes it to jeepney drivers to provide the support they need as they struggle to stay on the road.
The government may claim that it has done its part, but for Alex, Carder, and thousands of drivers like them, the reality is a different story.
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