Aquino: Lower and off-peak road tolls a possibility

MANILA, Philippines—The government is considering reducing the fees on the country’s toll roads and even allowing their use for free during off-peak hours, President Benigno Aquino III said in a forum with business leaders on Friday night.

President Benigno Aquino III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The possible reduction in tolls was one of the measures the President cited when he was asked what the government intended to do to cushion the impact of rising oil prices on the transport sector.

“There are various members of the private sector who are proposing that, for instance, on toll roads there will be a reduction or discounts in terms of the fees charged,” Mr. Aquino said in the forum during the 20th anniversary of the Anvil Business Club.

He said such relief would ease the burden of the transport sector and “therefore, the consumers, on the products that are being transported through these toll roads.”

“(It is even being said) that there is a possibility that for certain off-peak hours, it might be totally free but even a discount will be helpful,” the President said.

“So we have been maintaining a dialogue with the transport sector among others,” he added.

The other measures the government has implemented to help the transport sector include the fuel subsidy program and loan facilities for transport cooperatives.

Pantawid Pasada Program

“Among the things that we have been doing is the Pantawid Pasada Program, which gives them a subsidy,” Mr. Aquino said.

“There is a facility of the Development Bank of the Philippines wherein they can form cooperatives. It can lend up to P10 million to set up their own gas station. Therefore, the profits of the gas station will accrue to the transport sector,” he said.

The President said National Economic and Development Authority Director General and Economic Planning Secretary Gregory Domingo had been talking to manufacturers of tires, batteries and spare parts “to get them volume discounts as a way easing of their costs of doing business.”

Mr. Aquino made the remarks a day after transport groups led by the Pinag-Isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston) staged a caravan in protest of the government’s alleged inaction in the wake of the rising cost of fuel.

Militant groups have asked the government to abolish the 12-percent value-added tax (VAT) on petroleum products because of their already exorbitant cost. They also asked the government to repeal the Oil Deregulation Law.

While the government has said that it would review the oil deregulation measure, Malacañang appears steadfast in the implementation of the VAT on oil.

Asked if the government had made a determination of at what level of fuel price it would start reviewing the implementation of the VAT, presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda merely reiterated the administration’s line of ensuring enough revenues for public services.

Best interest of the people

“According to the Department of Finance the government is committed to undertake what is in the best interest of the Filipino people, and at this point, the government believes that the public is best served by ensuring that adequate funds are available to finance needed social and economic services,” Lacierda said in a text message on Friday.

Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said in Friday’s news briefing in Malacañang that there were programs in place for the public transport sector which is reeling from the high cost of fuel.

Asked if it was reasonable for the government to use  the windfall earnings from the VAT on oil for the benefit of the transport sector, Valte said, “We have been taking several steps to ensure that we don’t just have short-term solutions but we have long-term solutions to address their concerns.”

Among the short-term solutions the government has implemented for the public transport sector is the subsidy for fuel or the Pantawid Pasada Program, while one long-term answer is the development of alternative sources of energy.