The expected lifting or reduction of excise taxes on petroleum products must take effect swiftly, or right after President Marcos greenlights it via an executive order (EO).

Marikina City 2nd district Rep. Miro Quimbo, presiding officer of the Legislative Energy Action Development (LEAD) Council, had this to say on Monday, April 13 to officials of the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Department of Energy (DOE) during the body's second hearing on the fuel price crisis.

He made the statement after DOF Undersecretary Rolando Ligon Jr. informed the committee that the prospective excise tax suspension or reduction would not take effect immediately as it would not apply on existing inventories of oil companies, which would first have to exhaust their present stocks.

Ligon said the change in the excise tax structure would affect only incoming crude oil supply.

During the hearing, DOE Undersecretary Alessandro Sales said the country’s inventories as of last week were good for 49 days in the case of diesel, and 54 days for gasoline.

Ligon, who represented DOF Secretary Frederick Go in the hearing, told the LEAD Council that if President Marcos' excise tax issuance covered present inventories, then they would have no choice but to implement it.

“Mr. Chair. I will await for the directive of the Office of the President (OP). If the exemption from excise tax will also cover those inventories already here in the Philippines,” the DOF undersecretary said.

“But what we're saying is…so many of my colleagues have taken the position that we want the President's decision, at least I'm sure he wants it, to be implemented and felt by the public soonest...So ang tanong namin parati diyan is bigyan niyo kami ng categorical answer within the day kung bakit siya administratively not feasible,” Quimbo replied.

(So our constant question there is: give us a categorical answer within the day as to why it is administratively not feasible.)

“So once the, for instance, it (President’s executive order) comes out today, the President makes an announcement, how is it going to be implemented?” asked the Marikina legislator.

“It will be issued through an [EO], and then once the [EO] is issued, we will be issuing the necessary memorandums through the Bureau of Customs (BOC) para dun sa exemption ng excise tax,” Ligon said.

“So the long and short of it is, is the policy of the DOF in terms of implementation that the suspension will only apply to new inventory?” Quimbo asked in a follow, to which the DOF official answer in the affirmative.

Ligon argued that "it will be hard" to impose the excise tax tweak on the fuel inventories already in the Philippines "with regards to administrative feasibility".

But Quimbo said the LEAD Council was not suggesting a return of excise taxes on the part of oil companies. “We just give them credit for the amount that they have advanced. And that once the suspension is lifted, we can start applying that. Hindi ba kaya yun? (Can't we do that?) You have an inventory coming from the BOC (Bureau of Customs) of the amount that they have paid."

“We will consider that, Mr. Chair,” Ligon said.

Quimbo expressed frustration with this response. “You've been considering that for quite some time. I think we need a categorical answer. You have to tell us it's impossible to implement or not. Because otherwise the pronouncement of the President will not be felt immediately, which is needed by our people."

He told Ligon that the council would wait for a categorical answer within the day.

"We have the entire day today. We need a categorical answer coming from you in consultation with the BOC and the BIR (Bureau of Internal Revenue) relative to its immediate implementation. So when we say immediate, it's as soon as the President announces."

During the same hearing, Quimbo said the LEAD Council was also open to the suspension of the 12-percent value added tax (VAT) on petroleum products, which coupled with an excise tax suspension would further pull down pump prices.

According to Quimbo, the government could identify a certain level of VAT collections that could automatically trigger suspension of the levy once attained.

"Iisa lang naman ang isyu dyan eh (There's only one issue there): we strongly believe that a suspension of, on--if you reach a particular threshold on collection ng VAT, baka pwede na tayong mag-suspend kasi may windfall tayo eh, di ba? (maybe we could already suspend since we have windfall, right?)" he told representatives of economic managers.

"Ang gusto lang nating maging effect is if we suspend, makikinabang ba talaga ang taumbayan? Yan lang yun (What we only want to see as the effect is: if we suspend, will the people truly benefit? That’s all it is)," Quimbo said.

The ranking congressman said that the House was looking for real and not easy solutions.

"Hindi lamang ang pinakamabilis o pinakamadaling solusyon ang ating hinahanap. Ang tunay na kailangan natin ay ang wastong balanse ng isang solusyong maagap, epektibo, at responsable,” Quimbo added.

(We are not merely seeking the fastest or easiest solution. What we truly need is the proper balance of a solution that is timely, effective, and responsible.)