Senate bent on killing gas tax

The Senate appears bent on killing the P2-per-liter tax on gasoline and other oil products that allies of President Arroyo are pushing in the House of Representatives.

"We should be sensitive to the plight of our people, who are already reeling from non-stop fuel price increases. Increasing the tax on petroleum products will certainly aggravate their suffering," Sen. Ralph Recto said yesterday.

Recto chairs the Senate committee on ways and means, the panel that wields the power of life and death over tax measures such as the proposed P2 additional oil levy.

He said of all the Arroyo administration’s tax proposals, the oil levy is the "most obnoxious" as it would trigger a domino-like increase in transport fares and prices of commodities.

"It will result in inflation, and inflation hurts the poor who comprise the majority of our population," he said.

For his part, Sen. Joker Arroyo, who is opposed to new taxes, said he could not understand why it was the Liberal Party (LP) that introduced the P2-per-liter oil tax in the House.

"What’s in it for them? Why are they pushing for it? Are they lobbying for some Cabinet posts?" he asked.

The tax bill is authored by LP Rep. Danilo Suarez of Quezon. Senate President Franklin Drilon chairs the Liberal Party, whose president is former Batanes congressman Florencio Abad.

Abad, whose wife has inherited his congressional seat, is said to be eyeing the post of Education Secretary Edilberto de Jesus.

Suarez is also the author of the controversial road user’s tax, which doubled the fees for the registration of the estimated three million motor vehicles in the country.

He is believed to be the brains behind the P1.4-billion "Kalsada Natin, Alagaan Natin" project that Mrs. Arroyo launched in the middle of the recent three-month presidential election campaign. — Jess Diaz, Paolo Romero, Marichu Villanueva