DOE: 90% of gas stations to hike prices by end of January due to TRAIN

Majority of gas stations nationwide would have hiked prices by the end of the month because of the implementation of the tax reform law, the Department of Energy (DOE) said Thursday.

“Sa projections namin, by the end of the month…majority, around 90 plus percent would have already increased based on the TRAIN law,” DOE Assistant Secretary Leonido Pulido III said during a Senate energy committee hearing.

Republic Act No. 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN), which lowers income taxes while adjusting excise taxes on oil, coal and automobiles, and imposes new taxes on cosmetic procedures and sugary drinks, among others, took effect this month.

According to Pulido, some of the gas stations of the so-called Big 3 oil companies — Caltex, Petron, and Shell — as well as Flying V have already increased their prices on January 15.

The DOE has repeatedly reminded retailers not to charge new excise taxes on their old stock.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chairman of the committee, asked if the DOE has a mechanism to ensure that oil retailers are not raising prices more than they should. The DOE said there is none.

“It depends on the definition of prevention. If it can be stopped, we cannot because it is a deregulated industry. We do not have the mechanism to physically prevent them from raising their prices,” Pulido said.

“What we are trying to prevent here are people taking advantage of this. Kung alam nila na babantayan ng gobyerno at may mekanismo tayo, hindi sila magtataas ng presyo na hindi in accordance with what is declared,” said Gatchalian.

Pulido assured the committee that the department will finish by the end of the month its analysis whether oil companies have exhausted their old stocks. —KG, GMA News