SENATOR Grace Poe has refiled her bill seeking the automatic suspension of excise tax on fuel products upon reaching certain conditions.Poe said in the measure, excise tax on gasoline and diesel will automatically be suspended when the Dubai crude oil price exceeds $80 per barrel over a three-month period.She said the suspension of excise tax will result in a P10 and P6 decrease of gasoline and diesel prices, respectively.”Taking off P6 from the price of diesel per liter during critical times can help our drivers ply their routes again. At the same time, it will lower the cost of transporting goods,” Poe said.”The wheels of the economy can go faster if public transport is able to move people to work or buy goods and essentials that they can afford,” she added.Poe said 20 percent of the 900,000 jeepney drivers have left the trade due to losses from high pump prices over the past months.The country’s inflation rate stood at 6.1 percent in June, the highest in almost four years.Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said the recent acceleration of inflation in the country is heavily driven by the increase in oil prices in the world market.Poe said transport accounted for 31.7 percent of the rise in inflation, with inflation for diesel already at 92.5 percent and for gasoline at 53.9 percent.Poe filed the bill in November 2021 but it was not tackled and discussed during the 18th Congress.On Wednesday, July 6, Diokno said the government will continue distributing fuel subsidies to those affected by the soaring pump prices, particularly fishermen, drivers and farmers. (SunStar Philippines)