Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda (left), Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo (Rep. Salceda's office)

The top economists in the House of Representatives have aired their concerns over the proposal to suspend excise tax on fuel as a remedy to the ongoing fuel price surge. 

Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda and Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Stella Quimbo are of the opinion that such a move should be studied thoroughly. 

"We have to be careful with the excise tax suspension, because while world prices of oil go up and down, fiscal credibility is difficult to restore," said Salceda, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means. 

"Let us exhaust all measures before we touch our taxes -- which is the lifeblood of the state," he reckoned. 

Pump fuel prices have been hiked 11 times in as many weeks, with diesel prices now teetering at a costly P70 per liter. 

Salceda puts forward two courses of action, one meant to benefit consumers and the other, the local oil companies. 

"To help the most adversely affected, we need fuel discounts for farmers, fisherfolk, and the transport sector. We have P9 billion in excess VAT (value-added tax) revenues to use for this," he said. 

"To increase mileage and reduce the pump price, we are allowed by law to reduce the bioethanol requirement of 10 percent to 5 percent in gasoline. That will reduce total price by P3.1 per liter for gasoline," added the Bicolano. 

Meanwhile, Quimbo highlighted the potential negative impact that fuel excise tax suspension could have on the Philippine economy. 

"Pagka magsusupindi tayo ng taxes, ibig sabihin niyan, there are forgone revenues. And when you forgo revenues, ibig sabihin niyan, mawawalan tayo ng suporta para sa spending (The suspension of taxes mean there are forgone revenues. And when you forgo revenues, we will lose support for spending)," she said. 

"At tatandaan po natin na medyo bumagal ang GDP growth natin ng second quarter ng taong ito (Remember, our gross domestic product growth slowed down in then second quarter this year)," noted the senior vice chairperson of Committee on Appropriations. 

"Ang kahirapan is if we suspend taxes, baka mahirapan tayo mag-support ng faster government spending in the next quarter (The difficulty with suspending taxes is we might find it difficult to support faster government spending in the next quarter)," she further explained. 

Like Salceda, Quimbo said there are still alternatives that should be explored. 

"Halimbawa to subsidize our consumers. At sa ngayon naman po, sa tingin ko marami pa naman existing unutilized funds to support out consumers. Marami pa tayong natitirang pondo for fuel subsidies (For example, we can subsidize consumers. And right now, I think we still have existing unutilized funds to support out consumers. A lot of funds remain for fuel subsidies)," she said.