June 30

The resignation of Monetary Board members V. Bruce Tolentino and Anita Linda Aquino is supposed to be effective on June 30, which is Sunday this week.

The effectivity of their resignations will not necessarily end the controversy over the ghost employee issue until the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas and its Monetary Board resolve to thoroughly review and overhaul the system of hiring of staff of the MB members and other consultants, or other special arrangements or secondment to accommodate staff from other government departments for a specified period.

It is also not yet clear what further actions will be taken against the MB members concerned with regard to their role in the effective malversation cases that will be filed against the ghost employees and the two supervisors that were complicit in the crime, and going forward, what measures will be taken to ensure that such will not happen again.

Observers are also curious if the acceptance of their resignation will basically absolve the two MB members from any further legal liability, or perhaps like the ghost employees, some of their compensation will likewise be recovered by the BSP even if no legal charges are filed against them.

Following BSP Governor Eli Remolona’s public pronouncements on the investigation and an expected resolution “soon,” the BSP has remained relatively quiet, with some MB members also off on holiday.

Hopefully by next week, the BSP will issue a formal statement or update on the matter going forward rather than opting for silence, hoping that the matter will be forgotten and allowed to be quietly resolved internally by the monetary institution as it had initially hoped until whistleblowers leaked the anomaly.

The banking and financial community, while remaining mum on the matter, is still abuzz with speculation as to how the BSP will restore its integrity and who will be nominated and eventually chosen to replace the two disgraced MB members.

Some have expressed the view that the BSP will have to work hard to restore its credibility as the monetary regulator following this incident.

It is expected that once an official announcement is made upon the formal acceptance of the resignations of Tolentino and Aquino, the market will put forward more candidates for the two vacant posts.

Employees of the BSP are also awaiting how the current leadership will restore integrity and professionalism within the ranks as instituted by previous governors.

Toyota still studying tariff rulings

Toyota Motor Philippines and GT Capital Auto and Mobility Holdings Inc. is still carefully studying the recent approval last month by the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Board to expand the list of articles with tariff reductions to include hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) and plug-in hybrid EV (PHEV) jeepneys/buses; HEV and PHEV cars and trucks, as well as completely knocked down EVs for all types of vehicles.

Originally, the tariff reduction was limited to purely EVs to encourage the shift away from fossil fuels toward more environment-friendly vehicles that would be more reliant on batteries.

Under EO 12, which took effect in February 2023, import duties of certain EVs and parts and components were reduced to zero from five to 30 percent, previously, for a period of five years.

According to the NEDA, the revised EO 12 is intended to stimulate the EV market in the country and support the transition to emerging technologies, which will reduce the country’s transport system’s reliance on fossil fuels and lead to a reduction in greenhouse gases from road transport.

Toyota’s pathway to an environment-friendly vehicle follows a transitional path that combines battery with the traditional fuel combustion engine, and was thus not compliant with the initial specification contained in EO 12 as passed in February 2023. Thus, its hybrid models sold in the Philippines were not entitled to the tariff reduction extended under the original EO 12.

The expanded list of the revised EO 12 will now cover HEVs and PHEVs.

In an interview, GTCAM chairman Vince Socco said that they are still studying tariff reduction decisions and the exact tariff structure announced by NEDA and how it would affect TMP’s own decisions moving forward on bringing in more of its HEVs.

At present, TMP already offers seven hybrid vehicles. Specifically, the Zenix, Yaris Cross, Rav 4, Camry, Corolla and the Alphard.

Its luxury vehicle unit, Lexus Philippines likewise offers one fully electric brand, which is the RZ luxury SUV and six hybrid brands that include the subcompact luxury sports utility vehicle LBX, the UX compact luxury SUV, the NX compact luxury SUV, mid-size luxury SUV RX, the GX luxury SUV and LX luxury SUV.

However, at present, TMP and Lexus import a limited number of hybrid models to the Philippines as they were not previously entitled to a lower tariff and were thus offered at a higher price.

With the expanded tariff treatment for hybrids, Socco said that they would still have to study the new price structure and the demand before they make a decision on increasing their importation of their existing hybrid models for the Philippines.

Filipinos are still slow to adapt to fully EV and HEV vehicles because of the lack of charging infrastructure, although according to Socco, for Toyota customers they are assured of the availability of charging facilities in the nationwide network of Toyota dealerships from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.

In the meantime, aggressively targeting the Philippine market with lower prices, but no assurance of after-sales support are Chinese EV vehicle manufacturers.

Notably, a lot of small two and four-wheeled EV vehicles have flooded the country, so much so that the government has had to deal with the increased non-registered vehicles plying main roads, adding to traffic and raising concern about the safety of such vehicles and their passengers.