President Rodrigo Duterte released executive order (EO) No. 113, increasing additional taxes for imported crude and refined petroleum products to generate additional funds for the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) response efforts.
The EO invoked the Bayanihan to Heal As One Act or Republic Act No. 11469, allowing Duterte to acquire emergency powers to implement measures necessary to enforce the national policy against the pandemic.
“There is an urgent need to augment the government’s resources to sufficiently finance the programs and measures to mitigate the effects of the Covid-19 situation, and launch the country towards recovery and rehabilitation,” the EO stated.
As mandated under the EO, petroleum products will be “subject to an additional import duty of 10 percent on top of their existing Most Favored Nation (MFN) and preferential import duties.”
In addition, the EO directs the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) to ensure that the proceeds from the temporary additional tax on import fuels will be allocated for the response efforts for the COVID-19 situation, including the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) and such other forms of assistance for vulnerable sectors.
The modified rates of import duty will immediately turn zero as international prices increase, based on trigger prices indexed to oil prices in the world market, according to the EO.
This following the Department of Energy (DOE) issued a certification and the Department of Finance (DOF) has been notified that a trigger price has been reached.
The EO will take effect after publication on the Official Gazette or newspaper, and will remain in effect until such time that Bayanihan law ceases to take effect.
