Adaptation

According to the 2015 Family Income and Expenditure Survey conducted by the Philippine Statistics Authority, 40.2 percent of Filipinos belonged to the middle-income class, 58.4 percent were low-income and a miniscule 1.4 percent accounted for the high income.

Unless they are living in caves, all of these Filipinos consume petroleum products: gasoline for cars, diesel for jeepneys and fishing boats, kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas for cooking.

So I don’t understand why suspending the excise tax would benefit “only the rich.” The tax is P10 per liter for gasoline, P6 per liter for diesel, P5 for kerosene and P3 for LPG.

The government also collects a 12 percent value-added tax on oil imports.

With a population of nearly 110 million, that 40.2 percent means there are over 44 million Filipinos who belong to the middle class. We drive consumption, but we’re not getting any form of reprieve from the skyrocketing fuel prices.

So we cope – by conserving fuel and cutting down on consumption. COVID dampened travel and gatherings even among families. But even with the threat of infection subsiding, people are again putting off travel plans and get-togethers involving long drives to a gathering place.

The reason this time is the dizzying price of fuel. At P94 per liter for gasoline and P84 for diesel, which is used by most SUVs, I know people who have scrapped their plans for long drives to destinations they have not visited since the start of the pandemic, and are limiting even their non-essential trips to commercial centers.

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This week there was a funny meme showing the movie “Fast & Furious,” circa 2022, with Vin Diesel and friends driving furiously… on bicycles.

Not everyone can shift to biking, or can even ride a bicycle. For those of us who are not covered by the P6,500 fuel subsidy for jeepney drivers and operators, P500 for fisherfolk and corn farmers, and P200 for the poorest of the poor, we conserve energy by doing what amounts to a voluntary quarantine.

People are again working from home, cooking and eating at home instead of in restaurants they haven’t visited for the past two years. Parents are opting out of voluntary in-person classes for their children, to save on transport costs.

This goes against the exhortations of the government to go out and spend, to revive our consumption-driven economy. The exhortation is behind the move to fully restore face-to-face classes despite the continuing threat posed by the Omicron variant, the 100 percent return of government services and mass transport capacities, and the effort to end work-from-home schemes even for the business process outsourcing sector.

At P84 per liter for diesel, however (and we haven’t seen the last of the price hikes), my idea of leisure activity on my day off is to visit destinations within just 10 kilometers of my home. Or better yet, I can just try out new recipes at home, going out only to a talipapa two or three kilometers away to buy fruits.

Without any reprieve from the stratospheric prices of fuel, people will simply slow down on consumption and other activities that involve spending.

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Sustaining consumption is one of the reasons being cited by lawmakers who are pushing for a suspension, either full or partial, of the fuel excise tax.

Understandably, the finance managers have resisted the idea. They need all the taxes they can collect amid the P12.3-trillion debt the country has accumulated (as of this month) mostly for the pandemic response.

The Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion or TRAIN law provides for the suspension of the fuel excise tax once Dubai crude oil hits $80 per barrel and stays there for three months. Finance officials estimate that suspending the excise tax at this point would mean losses of P105.9 billion.

If they collect the P200 billion in estate tax owed by Bongbong Marcos (as confirmed by the Bureau of Internal Revenue), that would more than offset the tax loss. The amount has ballooned due to interests and fines from the original P23 billion because of his refusal to pay up.

Instead the government is opting for subsidies to the poor. That’s P6,500 each for 377,443 drivers of jeepneys, UV Express, mini buses, shuttle services, taxis, tricycles and full-time ride hailing services. The amount is good for 77.38 liters of diesel – a little over one full tank.

Poor families, meanwhile, will get P200 a month. That’s P6.66 daily per household, or P1.33 per member of a typical family of five. What can P6.66 buy? One small egg, or one pack of instant noodle.

Some drivers are complaining that their ayuda was given to their operators for distribution to individual drivers – which isn’t happening.

Meanwhile, the Department of Transportation is dissuading transport operators from pushing for a fare hike, because of its impact on inflation.

Caught between soaring fuel prices and stagnant fares, some public utility vehicle drivers and operators are back to just selling eggs and fruits – as they did at the height of the pandemic lockdowns.

Consequently, commuters who can no longer work from home are finding it increasingly difficult to find a ride.

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Marikina Rep. Stella Luz Quimbo, an economist, is not losing hope that President Duterte will still see the light and suspend the collection of the fuel excise tax. This will give assistance at the source to a greater number of people, she argues.

Quimbo told “The Chiefs” on OneNews last Wednesday that the suspension could be partial, perhaps for certain products only.

This being election season, the administration’s preferred mode of dealing with the fuel crisis is to reverse oil deregulation. But in a regulated environment, the government will need to provide subsidies to petroleum industry players. And does the government really want to politicize fuel pricing again?

A proposal for a four-day work week has been thumbed down by the biggest business group, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The PCCI said workers can be exhausted and unproductive if their workweek is compressed into four days, with extended hours per working day.

Quimbo is hoping that Duterte will still change his mind about the fuel tax.

Early afternoon yesterday in Makati’s central business district, traffic was as light as if it were a holiday. There were no jeepneys along Buendia. Did the drivers decide to just stay home and save on fuel?

Until we get some reprieve from surging fuel prices, we will just stay at home, and cut down on consumption.