With oil prices surging amid the Middle East conflict, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos has moved to fast-track legislation that would give him authority to suspend or reduce excise taxes on fuel products.
The certification of House Bill No. 8418 as urgent allows both chambers of Congress to approve the measure on second and third reading on the same day. The Senate’s joint committees on energy and ways and means cleared the chamber’s counterpart bill on Thursday, March 12, a day after the House passed its version on second reading via voice vote.
Under the House version, the authority may only be exercised upon recommendation of the Development Budget Coordination Committee and in coordination with the Secretary of Energy. Two conditions can trigger the power: Dubai crude oil prices reaching or exceeding $80 per barrel for one month immediately before the order is issued, or a declared state of national emergency or calamity resulting in extraordinary pump price increases as certified by the Energy secretary. The suspension or reduction would automatically lapse once those conditions no longer exist.
The bill caps the duration of any suspension or reduction at six months and limits the President’s authority to exercise it until December 31, 2028.
House Majority Leader and Ilocos Norte Rep. Sandro Marcos, son of the President, framed the measure as a safeguard for consumers. “This bill gives the President a measured tool to cushion that shock, with clear triggers, clear limits and clear reporting when the prices of fuel and basic commodities get too high. Proteksyon ito sa mga mamamayan sa biglaang pagsirit ng presyo ng mga pangunahing bilihin,” he said following Wednesday’s House approval.
Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo, who chairs the House ways and means committee, had earlier noted that the executive power being granted is bounded by congressional policy, not open-ended.
The bill also requires the Department of Finance, the Department of Budget and Management, the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development, the Department of Energy, and the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas — working with the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Bureau of Customs — to issue implementing rules within 15 days of the law taking effect.
The legislative push comes as pump prices have already risen by at least P10 per liter this week. The Department of Energy projects a further hike of P17 to P24 per liter within the March 10–16 window. The Philippines sources 98 percent of its crude oil from the Middle East, a supply chain now disrupted by the conflict that began February 27 when joint US-Israel Operation Epic Fury launched airstrikes on Iran, with Iranian retaliatory strikes against US bases in the region following.
The Makabayan bloc — composed of ACT Teachers Rep. Antonio Tinio, Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Sarah Jane Elago, and Kabataan Rep. Renee Louise Co — rejected the bill’s approach as inadequate. The group called for a broader set of measures including VAT removal on petroleum products and the scrapping of the Oil Deregulation Law entirely.
“We, the Makabayan bloc, condemn the oil cartel’s shameless exploitation of the crisis in Iran and West Asia to manipulate pump prices and squeeze superprofits from a people already drowning in hunger wages and soaring costs of living,” the bloc said in a statement.
“This price shock, the biggest since the Oil Deregulation Law took effect in 1998, exposes the brutal reality that deregulation did not create competition; it consolidated corporate power, enabled coordinated price increases, and left the public defenseless,” the statement added.
