CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Cebu chapter of the Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston) reiterated its calls for the government to eliminate oil taxes as the country faces successive rounds of fuel price hikes.
Piston – Cebu is urging officials here to reconsider imposing taxes on fuel products as increasing oil prices may put public utility vehicle (PUV) drivers at a disadvantage.
“Ang kining laing hugna sa pagsaka sa presyo sa lana kay lain na sab kining hapak sa ubos na daang kita namong mga drayber ug nagbuot pasabot lang sa pagkibhang sa pagkaong among madala sa lamesa para sa among nagkadaiyang pamilya,” said Greg Perez, chairperson of Piston-Cebu.
(The rise in prices of oil is another slap on the already low income of drivers which in turn lessens what we put on the table for our respective families.)
On Tuesday, August 22, the country had its seventh consecutive oil price hike.
READ: Fuel prices in 6 gas stations in Cebu City as of August 22: Gasoline up by P1.10 per liter
According to Perez, the latest round of increase in fuel prices meant an additional expenses of up to P258 per day for drivers.
Drivers usually consume up to 30 liters of fuel to make ends meet everyday, he added.
Oil Deregulation Law and Value Added Tax
Piston-Cebu, thus, joined renewed calls to abolish the Oil Deregulation Law and Value Added Tax (VAT) to cushion the impact of oil price hikes on ordinary Filipinos.
“Sa matag P67.00 kada litro sa diesel, ang P7.18 niini kay tungod sa 12 percent VAT, samtang ang P6.00 niini kay sa excise tax,” explained Perez.
(In every P67.00 per liter of diesel, P1.78 of that is because of the 12 percent VAT while P6.00 is because of the excise tax.)
“Kung suspensuhon o tanggalon kini nga mga buwis, moubos hangtud sa P53.82 ang presyo kada litro sa diesel ug magkaadunay P395.40 nga dugang kita ang mga drivers matag adlaw,” he added.
(If they suspend these taxes, the price of diesel per liter will go down to as low as P53.82 and will mean an additional P395.40 income for the drivers avery day.)
Successive fuel price hikes
The group also called out the government and accused them of inaction in addressing the successive oil price hikes in the past weeks.
In separate advisories, Petron Corp., Seaoil Philippines Inc, and Cleanfuel all said that they will increase the price of diesel by P0.20 per liter and gasoline by P1.10 per liter.
Petron and Seaoil likewise announced an P0.70 per liter increase in the price of kerosene.
Petron and Seaoil will implement the price increase starting at 6:00 a.m. on Tuesday, while Cleanfuel will adjust its prices by 4:01 p.m. Tuesday.
The Department of Energy previously warned that prices will likely increase further over the next two months. / with reports from INQUIRER.net