CIBAC Party-list Rep. Bro. Eddie Villanueva backs the 3rd reading approval at the House of Representatives of House Bill 8418 which seeks to lower oil prices by suspending or reducing the excise taxes on petroleum products during national or global economic emergencies.
“Global fuel price volatility quickly translates into higher transport costs and rising prices of goods and services. At this point of time, it is an imperative moral duty of the government to exhaust all efforts to cushion the adverse impacts of the current oil price surges due to the tension in the Middle East countries. Capacitating the government with the necessary flexibility to act with dispatch to lower the prices of fuel products during the current extraordinary situation is among the necessary steps that must be taken. We call on the swift enactment of this measure,” says Rep. Bro. Eddie Villanueva who is one the principal authors of the House Bill 8418.
House Bill 8418 grants the President power to suspend or reduce the imposition of excise tax on fuel products under statutory conditions, namely: when the average Dubai crude oil price based on Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) has reached US 80 dollars per Barrel, or, when a state of national emergency or calamity has been declared by the President and has resulted to extraordinary increases in domestic pump prices of petroleum products.