Driving, not just walking, the talk

As learned through the years, there are always opportunities that arise from every crisis. In Chinese, the word crisis in Mandarin is “wei-ji” as written in two characters. The first character “wei” stands for danger while “j?” represents opportunity or a pivotal moment. Together, “wei-ji” suggests that within every crisis lies the potential for transformation, growth and change.

We might as well consider the brighter side of things in our prevailing situation due to the latest Middle East (ME) conflict.

While we certainly do not wish any armed conflict to reach our shores, we have to grin and bear the ensuing oil price shocks we are having. It all started from the Feb. 28 military strikes and counter attacks of the United States and Israel against Iran, which has now expanded to other oil-producing Gulf states.

The renewed ME conflict’s immediate impact on the Philippines was immediately felt by all Filipinos. For the past two weeks, we have been groaning from the two-digit pump price hikes on gasoline and diesel products. Consequently, it pushes up the supply-and-demand pricing of other basic goods – from transport services to food products, etc.

Let us not forget the need to evacuate out of harm’s way and repatriate hundreds, if not thousands, of our overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in the strife-torn ME countries. Naturally, this will likely result in reduced foreign remittances from our OFWs. Worst case, they join the 5.8 percent of jobless Filipinos as of January this year.

For now, transport groups are pressing for fare hikes to cover the costs of the unusual – and hopefully only temporary – severe impact of the oil price shocks due to this latest ME conflict. For them, “ayuda,” or direct cash subsidy from the government, is just a one-time, temporary stop-gap measure. While targeted subsidy is immediate and direct, this is not sustainable for both the government and the Filipino taxpayers.

Before they adjourn sessions this week, both chambers of the 20th Congress are set to approve the proposed grant of “special powers” for the President to suspend excise tax on imported crude oil products and/or reduce/remove the 12 percent value added tax on the sale of refined petroleum products. Estimated revenue losses for these two proposed tax relief measures are placed around more than P300 billion a year.

Just last week, the House of Representatives already approved their version of the proposed scrapping of the travel tax, where the government estimates to lose P7 billion in annual collections. The Senate has their version of this bill but all tax measures must emanate from the Lower Chamber. As the most popular move, the government is more than willing to carry the burden of these foregone revenue sources. But from where will the government offset the potential impact to the Philippine economy of these revenue losses?

For us Filipinos, we would rather enjoy these tax relief measures than lose the money to grafters in and out of the government.

To date, pump prices of diesel, which is supposed to be primarily used by public utility transports like jeepneys and buses, range from P85-P88 per liter from P65 a liter just a week ago. The price of diesel got much more expensive than regular gasoline at P75 per liter at the low end of the pricing. Many of our jeepney and bus drivers fear they may no longer be able to ply their routes unless some form of relief – like fuel subsidy from the government – is given.

Already, there has been noticeable lighter flow of vehicles in many of the notoriously traffic-prone areas in Metro Manila. Of course, private motorists are also reeling from these weekly oil price hikes. In fact, many of these privately owned big cars and sports utility vehicles (SUVs) are diesel-fed. So presumably, private motorists with more than one car have shifted and are now using their vehicles running on gasoline.

Or many are now buying electronic vehicles (EVs). Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III, who drives his own vehicle, arrived at our Kapihan sa Manila Bay news forum last week using a self-charging EV Porsche. Sotto noted some of his fellow senators, like Senate president pro tempore Panfilo Lacson, have shifted already to EVs. Sotto disclosed the Senate has its own solar-powered EV charging stations in compliance with the law they passed in the previous Congress.

According to Sotto, the Philippine Senate began transitioning with the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA) or Republic Act (RA) 11697. Just last January, the Senate inaugurated its first solar-powered EV charging station, located in the Senate building’s covered parking area.

The two EV charging stations provide free renewable energy for electric vehicles owned by senators, officials and staff. Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, vice chairman of the Senate committee on energy, is a proponent of this Senate shift to mobilize faster adoption of electric mobility by the rest of the government. The Senate initiative aligns with the national government’s goals under the Comprehensive Roadmap for the Electric Vehicle Industry (CREVI) to boost EV usage nationwide.

Sotto believes “anything to help” reduce the country’s dependency on imported fuel and insulate the economy from oil price shocks is more than welcome and they’re willing to chip in to such national efforts. In fact, he cited, the Senate has been practicing the four-day workweek long before this is now being implemented government-wide as part of the present energy conservation measures. The Senate holds sessions from Monday to Wednesday, while Thursdays are dedicated to committee meetings, public hearings and other administrative work.

Sotto is the most senior veteran lawmaker, being elected five non-consecutive times, at six years per term as senator. Of his five terms, he was elected three times as Senate president. From the 9th to 11th Congress, and in the 15th to the 19th Congress, Sotto has either authored or co-authored a total of 873 Senate bills – 259 of them have been enacted and are part of existing laws of the land.

Leading by example, Sotto drives, not just walks, the talk.