Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III said fuel prices are so high nationwide that he is urging the government to look for ways to bring it down.

Pimentel said an immediate solution is to reduce the taxes imposed by the government on the prices of fuel.

There are two types of taxes imposed on oil - the excise tax and expanded value-added tax, he said, and the government should see which tax it can afford to reduce, or let go.

Pimentel said the government should save where it can save so it does not have to impose so much taxes. “One of the taxes that we can reduce or let go of are the taxes on fuel in order that we can help our countrymen,” he said.

Pimentel said he also saw the need to look into the disparity of fuel prices in Negros compared to other provinces.

“We should determine if the disparity in the prices of fuel is due to smuggling because I see no logical reason why oil transported up the mountain is cheaper than oil in the central location,” he said.

The disparity in the prices of fuel in Negros compared to other provinces was one of the issues raised by the United Drivers Operators Center during a march protest it held Thursday in Bacolod City as it called on the government to regulate and manage the oil industry.

UNDOC also called for the immediate abolition of the Downstream Oil Deregulation Law and for the removal of VAT on oil products and warned of a bigger protest if oil prices continue to increase and the government remains mum on the matter.

Meanwhile, Pimentel said he has scheduled a hearing on Thursday on the preparations of the Commission on Elections for the 2013 elections.

He said he has requested the COMELEC chairman and the commissioners to attend, since they should explain their decision to buy the Precinct Count Optical Scan machines and if they think the glitches and problems encountered in the last elections will not be repeated.

“We cannot deny that there were many problems in the 2010 elections,” Pimentel said.

COMELEC chairman Sixto Brillantes said the glitches encountered by Smartmatic International during the 2010 elections had already been addressed.

COMELEC will purchase more than 80,000PCOS machines that cost between P1.8 to P1.9 million each.*CGS

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