Bongbong Marcos seeks fuel aid revision in 2024 nat’l budget

FILE PHOTO: A tricycle driver searches his pocket for bills and coins to pay for fuel at a gasoline station on E. Rodriguez Avenue in Quezon City on Monday, March 7, 2022. INQUIRER/NIÑO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has directed adjustments in a provision of the 2024 national budget that deals with fuel subsidy, Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Raphael Lotilla revealed Tuesday.

The DOE chief said that the President wants a modification in the language on fuel subsidies as well as the easing of requirements for drivers to hasten the distribution of aid.

The 2024 General Appropriations Act (GAA), which details the national budget for next year, is currently undergoing deliberations in Congress.

READ: DBM: P3 billion fuel subsidy up for distribution to drivers, operators

According to Lotilla, a clause in the 2024 national budget provides that fuel subsidy will be prompted if the Dubai price per barrel exceeds 80 US Dollars for three months. But under the amendment that the President wants, this period will be shortened to just a month, he noted.

“The President gave instructions on changing the language of the 2024 GAA provision on fuel subsidies for the transport sector in order to shorten the trigger period from three months to one month,” he said.

Lotilla also said: “The second is the simplification of the release requirements, so this time, as proposed by the Department of Budget and Management to Congress, the guidelines will need only to be agreed upon by the Department of Budget and Management, the Department of Transportation and the Department of Energy.”

READ: LTFRB says P417-M worth of fuel subsidy already distributed

Under the prevailing guidelines for fuel subsidies, drivers should be part of the government’s list. However, the DOE official pointed out that different government agencies involved in the aid distribution have multiple lists of drivers.

“The requirements before, that’s why it took some time for the release of the fund or the subsidies, was that the Department of Transportation had to consolidate all of the list from not only those who are issued franchises by the Land Transportation Franchising Board but also those lists coming from the Department of Interior and Local Government and the list from Department of Trade and Industry,” Lotilla said.

READ: Fuel subsidy for PUVs under process, coming soon — LTFRB

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