As wild gyration in oil prices is not likely to end soon, a legislated subsidy scheme for the country’s public transport sector is being recommended so they won’t be repeatedly placed at the mercy of picking just the ‘crumbs’ that the government would be throwing at them every time there are extreme surges in prices.
This week’s price hike for diesel products at a hefty scale of P6.85 per liter casts another heavy financial blow to the public transport sector – hence, that has been triggering renewed calls on the State to temporarily scrap the excise taxes for petroleum products.
In view of the recent developments in the deregulated oil market, Senate Committee on Energy Vice Chairman Sherwin T. Gatchalian propounded that “an efficient and timely fuel subsidy program for affected sectors” be established – that way, a mad scramble can be avoided every time there are massive price upswings at the pumps.
He noted that “if there’s a law on the grant of subsidy to drivers and the operators of public utility vehicles (PUVs), they won’t experience financial difficulty anymore if there are extraordinary price increases.”
The lawmaker said there is still room to institutionalize and improve the prevailing “Pantawid Pasada Program;” which is currently applied as the government’s subsidy tool to the PUV sector when there are price upticks. It is his belief that this can be firmed up via legislation.
At this stage, Gatchalian has lodged Senate Bill No. 384, “which provides for an energy subsidy program” – and that comes with the main aim to institutionalize the Pantawid Pasada subsidy scheme.
The proposed measure specifically stipulated that “the subsidy shall be granted to qualified beneficiaries when the average price of Dubai crude for three consecutive months is equal to or greater than $80 per barrel such as the case now.”
Last week, following the decision of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and its ally-producers (OPEC+) to trim production by 2.0 million barrels per day, global oil prices soared again to as high as $97 per barrel.
For Dubai crude, which is the pricing benchmark for the Asian markets, this also escalated beyond $95 per barrel – which is way above the $80 per barrel threshold being cast in the propounded legislation for fuel subsidy.
In Gatchalian’s proposed bill, he is also pitching for “the use of digital payment systems in the distribution of the subsidy and imposes penalties against erring government officials for failure to ensure the timely release of the subsidy to all qualified beneficiaries.”
He stressed that “the concerned government agencies should be ready to intervene with an efficient implementation of the Pantawid-Pasada program whenever there are series of oil price hikes,” with the solon adding that “we should have learned the lessons from previous disbursements.” ###