The House Fuel Crisis Ad Hoc committee on Monday, March 7, voiced its frustrations over the National Economic and Development Authority's (NEDA) apparent lack of an official stance in response to the fuel price surge.
The panel discussed during its five-hour meeting Monday the proposed suspension of excise tax on petroleum products, the distribution of fuel subsidies, and the possible review of the 1998 Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act.
Marikina 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo pressed resource person, National Economic Development Authority (NEDA) Director Reynaldo Cancio for NEDA's reaction to the policy options tackled by the panel regarding the fuel crisis.
Cancio, however, opted to remain mum on the NEDA’s recommendations.
“We’re looking at both problems, both the short term implications of the crisis and the long term. The recommendations will happen later with the meeting with the President,” Cancio said.
“All options are on the table as of now,” he added.
Quimbo called out NEDA for its slow response in issuing their recommendation.
“I share po in your frustration with NEDA na hanggang ngayon wala pang pag-aaral, bukas pa sila mag-rerecommend (who until now has not studied the subject, and will submit their recommendation tomorrow) on a very important issue which is fare hike,“ said Quimbo.
“Ang dami-dami natin pinag-uusapan na policy option...Pero sa ngayon, hindi maliwanag which is superior hindi naman pwede patas lahat yan. Para sa akin, dapat ang nagbabalangkas niyan is NEDA (We are discussing so many policy options ... Now, it is not clear which is superior, and they can’t all be equal but for me, NEDA should be the one to plan it),” Quimbo explained.
Bayan Muna Party-list Rep. Carlos Zarate questioned why none of the resource persons who attended the crucial panel meeting were of secretary rank.
“Its really frustrating na puro ‘ad hoc’ yung mga sagot ng mga executive... Parang lutang na lutang (that the executives always answer ‘ad hoc’... It’s as if they’re lost),” said Zarate, who is a senior deputy minority leader.
Meanwhile, AAMBIS-OWA Party-list Rep. Sharon Garin, co-chairperson of the ad hoc panel, backed Quimbo’s points. She also reiterated NEDA’s role in discussing policy options in order to deal with the fuel crisis.
“The problem is if we don’t have the answers from NEDA, we’re going to cover probably sectors may not be affected or least affected... We need data from NEDA,” Garin stressed.