Gov’t mulls another P1/liter discount for PUVs
By Donnabelle L. Gatdula
The Philippine Star 05/05/2006
The government is mulling the possibility of giving another P1 per liter discount to public utility vehicles (PUVs), using the proceeds from the reduction of the tariff duties on imported petroleum products from three percent to zero, a top energy official said.
Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said that every one-percent reduction in tariff duties would result in foregone revenues of P2.5 billion for the government.
The government, however, would be wiling to allot these revenues through a so-called focused two-tiered pricing system that would benefit legitimate public utility vehicles (PUVs).
"Pursuant to President Arroyo’s instructions, we are looking for alternative ways of giving focus on providing discounts to public utility vehicles – we need to explore other alternatives. Currently, the discounts are being given and charged to the oil companies themselves and they do this through their jeepney lanes," he said.
Under the proposed scheme, instead of the government collecting the tariff from the oil firms, it would ask them to reflect the savings realized from the tariff cut in their pump prices.
The Department of Energy is further proposing that the savings generated by the oil firms from the tariff reduction be reflected only as discounts for PUVs instead of spreading the savings to all their pump products.
If the tariff reduction proceeds would be spread out to all petroleum products, it would only result to a drop in prices of between 30 to 35 centavos per liter. But if applied to PUVs, the reduction could reach P1 per liter.
"We’re trying to explore a two-tiered pricing system for PUVs. We said we want that to benefit as many PUVs as possible, especially now that fuel prices have been increasing. For instance, at P2.5 billion, for every percent reduction in tariff duties you’re going to spread across all fuel products in two that would amount to a reduction of around 30 to 35 centavos per liter. From that everybody would benefit including the gas-guzzlers, the richer classes to consume even more fuel than any other classes, so this would be some sort of a reverse subsidy and we don’t want that to happen,"he said.
The energy chief admitted, though, that they have yet to firm up the mechanism for the proposed "well-targeted discount scheme."
"What we’re trying to explore is how we can channel, for example, the P2.5 billion from the one-percent reduction from tariff duties to a discount system focusing only on PUVs because we want to help the mass transport system, drivers and we want to make sure that the public at large using the PUVs would also benefit. It would be an additional discount on top of the existing one-peso discount provided by oil companies," he said.
He said they would be able to determine the bonafide beneficiaries of such discount through the aid of information technology or an ID system. According to Lotilla, they would be using an "in-house technology" to develop this system.
So far, public transport groups have been enjoying a P1 per liter discount in the so-called jeepney lanes designed by the local oil companies. This time, another P1 per liter discount will come from the government’s pocket.
A total of 525 gasoline stations nationwide are now offering P1 discount on diesel to public transport vehicles.
"We are very pleased to note that the oil companies have heeded the government’s call to assist the public transport groups in light of rising fuel prices. From only about 366 two weeks ago, we have now 525 service stations giving P1 per liter discount on diesel. And the number is growing as oil companies are concerned about losing their market due to intense competition," Lotilla said.
The 525 gasoline stations are strategically located along the major routes of public transport to ensure that they are being served. In fact, 252 stations are in Metro Manila, 118 in South Luzon, 80 in North Luzon, 32 in the Visayas and 43 stations in Mindanao.
The Philippine Star 05/05/2006
The government is mulling the possibility of giving another P1 per liter discount to public utility vehicles (PUVs), using the proceeds from the reduction of the tariff duties on imported petroleum products from three percent to zero, a top energy official said.
Energy Secretary Raphael P.M. Lotilla said that every one-percent reduction in tariff duties would result in foregone revenues of P2.5 billion for the government.
The government, however, would be wiling to allot these revenues through a so-called focused two-tiered pricing system that would benefit legitimate public utility vehicles (PUVs).
"Pursuant to President Arroyo’s instructions, we are looking for alternative ways of giving focus on providing discounts to public utility vehicles – we need to explore other alternatives. Currently, the discounts are being given and charged to the oil companies themselves and they do this through their jeepney lanes," he said.
Under the proposed scheme, instead of the government collecting the tariff from the oil firms, it would ask them to reflect the savings realized from the tariff cut in their pump prices.
The Department of Energy is further proposing that the savings generated by the oil firms from the tariff reduction be reflected only as discounts for PUVs instead of spreading the savings to all their pump products.
If the tariff reduction proceeds would be spread out to all petroleum products, it would only result to a drop in prices of between 30 to 35 centavos per liter. But if applied to PUVs, the reduction could reach P1 per liter.
"We’re trying to explore a two-tiered pricing system for PUVs. We said we want that to benefit as many PUVs as possible, especially now that fuel prices have been increasing. For instance, at P2.5 billion, for every percent reduction in tariff duties you’re going to spread across all fuel products in two that would amount to a reduction of around 30 to 35 centavos per liter. From that everybody would benefit including the gas-guzzlers, the richer classes to consume even more fuel than any other classes, so this would be some sort of a reverse subsidy and we don’t want that to happen,"he said.
The energy chief admitted, though, that they have yet to firm up the mechanism for the proposed "well-targeted discount scheme."
"What we’re trying to explore is how we can channel, for example, the P2.5 billion from the one-percent reduction from tariff duties to a discount system focusing only on PUVs because we want to help the mass transport system, drivers and we want to make sure that the public at large using the PUVs would also benefit. It would be an additional discount on top of the existing one-peso discount provided by oil companies," he said.
He said they would be able to determine the bonafide beneficiaries of such discount through the aid of information technology or an ID system. According to Lotilla, they would be using an "in-house technology" to develop this system.
So far, public transport groups have been enjoying a P1 per liter discount in the so-called jeepney lanes designed by the local oil companies. This time, another P1 per liter discount will come from the government’s pocket.
A total of 525 gasoline stations nationwide are now offering P1 discount on diesel to public transport vehicles.
"We are very pleased to note that the oil companies have heeded the government’s call to assist the public transport groups in light of rising fuel prices. From only about 366 two weeks ago, we have now 525 service stations giving P1 per liter discount on diesel. And the number is growing as oil companies are concerned about losing their market due to intense competition," Lotilla said.
The 525 gasoline stations are strategically located along the major routes of public transport to ensure that they are being served. In fact, 252 stations are in Metro Manila, 118 in South Luzon, 80 in North Luzon, 32 in the Visayas and 43 stations in Mindanao.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home