Gasoline and diesel were not included in the mandated suspension of fuel excise tax as only the rich will benefit from it, said Department of Finance (DOF) Undersecretary Carlo Adriano, who also serves as a member of the Development Budget Coordination Committee (DBCC).

During a Deca-Tri Committee or Legislative Energy Action Development (LEAD) Council hearing, Adriano explained that the decision was based on the result of the 2023 Family Income and Expenditure Survey and data from the Department of Energy (DOE).

In a report by RH 12 Milky Rigonan, the 1 to 10 decile system categorizes the population by socioeconomic status, with Decile 1 representing the lowest-earning 10 percent and Decile 10 the highest-earning 10 percent.

Adriano said that 50 percent of the Deciles 8 to 10 consume high amounts of fuel.

“The households are divided into 10 deciles. So the first decile is the poorest of the poor… and the 10th decile, ‘yun po ‘yung pinakamayayaman. So ang sinasabi ko po when I say 8th to 10th decile, ito na po ‘yung one of the richest in terms of family household income at ang kanilang share ‘yung total consumption for gasoline is almost at 50 percent,” he said.

“So when you remove the excise tax on gasoline, and in the case for diesel, na 85 percent ‘yung share nung 3 richest decile na ‘yun, ang pinakamakikinabang nito is actually those richest decile. So ‘yun po ‘yung rationale ng recommendation ng DBCC. That’s why in the recommendation in the DBCC, we added that fuel discounts on ₱10 per liter for the transport sector or for the public utility vehicles (PUVs),” he added.

Adriano further explained that this ₱10 per liter discount is higher than the price cut PUV drivers would benefit from if the excise tax on gasoline and diesel was suspended, which would only amount to a ₱6 per liter reduction.

“So the discount right now is higher than if we suspend the excise tax on diesel, which is only at ₱6 per liter,” he said.