VAT removal, oil deregulation repeal ‘not off the table,’ says Marcos

Jean Mangaluz - Philstar.com

MANILA, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that measures such as the suspension of the value-added tax (VAT) and the repeal of the oil deregulation law are not off the table—but more pressing matters will come first. 

In a media interview on Friday, March 27, Marcos reiterated that "nothing is being discounted." Tl

"You know, we would love to amend the oil deregulation, but it is a long discussion. I don't know when it will come out so we are focused right now on the immediate—what we can do immediately," Marcos said. 

Senate President Tito Sotto has filed a bill repealing the oil deregulation law, saying that the government had no control over the erratic prices of petroleum products during external shocks such as the crisis in the Middle East. 

Marcos has already signed into law a measure granting the president emergency powers to lift the excise tax on fuel products for a limited period.

However, the president has yet to indicate when he will use those powers. 

The country's chief economist Arsenio Balisacan has already outlined a worst-case scenario, which forecasts high inflation rates and a shrinking economy, with worsening unemployment and poverty rates to follow.

The Philippines is currently under a state of national energy emergency, becoming the first country to make such a declaration during the US-Israel's war on Iran.