ROXAS: HEED PEOPLE'S CLAMOR FOR IMMEDIATE RELIEF
AS PUMP PRICES HIKE ANEW, TRANSPORT GROUPS PREPARE FOR STRIKE

Senator Mar Roxas renewed his call for the immediate suspension of the value-added tax (VAT) on petroleum products, as fuel pump prices have yet again increased and is seen to continue increasing.

"When will the government start to listen, when consumers and the transport sector fall on their knees because they can't anymore carry the brunt of continued price increases? Government should now heed the call of the people for immediate relief now," he said.

Pump prices have increased 15 times already this year, when oil companies hiked the prices of diesel, gasoline and kerosene by P1.50 per liter this weekend. Roxas noted that diesel price has now gone up to nearly P50 a liter.

The Chairman of the Senate Committee on Trade and Commerce pointed out how unjust it is for the government to earn windfall revenues at the expense of consumers and the transport sector. He noted that Dubai crude was only $35 a barrel when the expanded VAT law was passed, and it is now almost $125.

"Their answer to our repeated call for immediate relief is 'we will subsidize this, we will subsidize that using our VAT windfall.' Instead of giving direct relief, the government chose to take a route that means more bureaucratic layers, more decision-making points, more avenues for leakages," he added.

"Instead of continuing to add to the people's burden, why not return to the people their hard-earned money? Ang isyu dito, kanino bang pera ito, at sino ang dapat magpasya kung saan ito gagastusin? (The issue here is, who's money are we talking about, and who should decide where this will be spent?) It's an issue of fairness," He said.

"It is better to leave the decision-making on how to use their money to the people themselves, because they're in the best position to know what their needs are," he stressed.

The Liberal Party President said he expects the government to yet again refuse to heed call for the immediate suspension of VAT on oil, but he would nonetheless continue to call for this, as the people's welfare and the economy, hit by a perfect storm of food and oil price hikes, is at stake..

"Para na tayong sirang plakang paulit-ilit na nananawagan sa gobyerno para agad na suportahan ang pag-suspindi sa VAT sa langis. Pero patuloy natin itong ipapanawagan, dahil ang bulsa ng Pilipino ang nakasalalay dito (We're like a broken record already in calling on the government to finally support the suspension of VAT on oil. But we'll not stop, because the people's pocket is what's at stake here)," he added.