Govt urged to scrap fuel taxes as transport strike gets underway

MANILA, Philippines — Transport group Manibela on Thursday called on the government to remove the excise tax and value-added tax on fuel, a day after a driver died during a  payout in Quezon City. Manibela Chairman Mar Valbuena said drivers were being squeezed by rising oil prices and delayed relief, prompting the group to press for the immediate removal of fuel taxes on the first day of the nationwide transport strike. During the protest, Valbuena said the government should not wait any longer to lift the excise tax on fuel and should also remove the VAT, which further increased the burden on drivers. “We are appealing to the government to remove the excise taxes, although it has already been signed, but when will that become effective? Because what we know is that it will still take several weeks before it is removed, and the Value Added Tax, where the base is even bigger, should also be removed,” Valbuena said in Filipino. He said the problem was aggravated by what he described as a disorderly aid distribution process, after a driver died during Wednesday’s payout in Quezon City. “The giving of aid should be orderly, not that someone has died. Some felt dizzy, some were not given anything. What we received was not aid, but only inconvenience — we lined up the whole day, did not drive, and in the end there was nothing to receive,” he said. A Manibela member also urged the government to find a solution quickly. “Please think carefully about how you will solve our situation, because every member of Manibela is already suffering. We do not want what happened yesterday to happen again. Someone already died, but still got nothing,” the member said. Valbuena said the transport strike has gone beyond the issue of unpaid aid and reflected wider frustration over the continued rise in fuel prices and the losses drivers absorb each day.

Go to News Site