Sara urges Duterte to call special session of Congress to address price hikes

Davao City Mayor Sara Duterte on Thursday called on President Rodrigo Duterte to call a special session of Congress to address the rising cost of fuel and its impact on the prices of commodities.

The vice presidential bet said she and her standard bearer former Senator Ferdinand Marcos Jr. are calling for the suspension of the excise tax excise tax on fuel to ease the burden on operators and drivers of public transport.

“Not as a daughter to a father but as a Filipino citizen, ‘yan po ang aming… sa Uniteam po unang-una is that ‘yung suspension po ng excise tax and pangalawa po is the studying or re-studying of the oil price stabilization na dapat finafund-an ng gobyerno,” Sara said in an interview in Quezon City.

Duterte said Congress should help the Executive department in determining the measures that should be enforced to help Filipinos in this crisis.

Lawmakers have pushed for the suspension of excise tax on fuel products.

Albay Representative Joey Salceda has said President Duterte has the moral obligation to call for a special session in light of the continuous increase in fuel prices.

The Palace, for its part, urged Congress to review the Oil Deregulation Law, particularly the provisions on unbundling the price and the inclusion of the minimum inventory requirements in the law.  —NB, GMA News