FILE PHOTO: Albay Rep. Joey Salceda. INQUIRER
MANILA, Philippines — Albay Rep. Joey Salceda is preparing to file a bill that would provide tax relief to manufacturers of medical oxygen.
The chair of the House committee on ways and means said he will be filing the proposed legislation on the issue as Duterte bared considering talking with Congress on the matter to avoid an oxygen supply shortage.
“We will abide by the President’s request. I am having a bill prepared on this matter,” he said in a statement.
READ: Duterte says he may ask Congress to give tax relief to medical oxygen firms
In the interim, however, Salceda said there are other options that the government can explore to give a tax break to medical oxygen manufacturers.
According to him, among possible options is extending the Bayanihan provision on the exemption from customs duties of medical oxygen supplies.
“There are also immediate recourses. The [Department of Finance] could also invoke Section 109 (BB) (ii) of the National Internal Revenue Code, as we enacted in CREATE, which exempts from VAT the sale and importation of medical devices necessary for COVID-19,” Salceda noted.
“Oxygen supplies definitely fall under that category. That provision is valid until December 2023,” he added.
The government can also exempt manufacturers of for-export oxygen supplies from their required export thresholds so that they can keep their supplies here instead of selling them abroad, Salceda said.
“We did this for Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) manufacturers, through the Department of Trade and Industry and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority,” he pointed out.
Earlier, a World Health Organization official urged the Philippines to ramp up its oxygen supplies amid the threat of the COVID-19 Delta variant.