DZIQ: ‘Motel discount card?’

MANILA, Philippines – The fuel subsidy in the form of “smart cards” that the government will implement to address the exorbitant oil price increases in recent weeks is like a “motel discount card,” Bayan Muna Representative Teodoro Casiño said in a Radyo Inquirer interview Friday.

Instead of using the “smart cards,” Casiño proposed that the VAT [value added tax] for oil be suspended for the next three months stating that the government had collected an excess of P4 billion on VAT for oil during the first quarter of 2011.

“Since there had been a lot of excesses in the government’s VAT collection, we are proposing that it be suspended for the next three months,” he said in Filipino.

“It will be of bigger help [as compared to the subsidies],” he added.

President Benigno Aquino III approved last Monday an executive order granting fuel subsidies amounting to P500 million to public utility jeeps and tricycles in lieu of the approved fare hikes.

Aquino said that the government would distribute “smart cards” to holders of PUJ and tricycle franchise without elaborating how this scheme will work.

For the full interview, listen to Radyo Inquirer, DZIQ 990 AM.