PHILIPPINE Business for Environmental Stewardship (PBEST) Secretary General Felix Jose Vitangcol urged the government to amend the tax incentives for electric vehicles as it ‘lacks inclusivity,’ because wo-wheeled electric motorcycles are still subject to 30 percent import duty.
LAST month Malacañang released Executive Order No. 12, effectively modifying the tariff rates for 4-wheel and selected EVs. EO12 lowered the tariff rate for certain types of EVs ranging from five to 30 percent to zero percent import duty. It did not however cover two-wheel electric motorcycles. However, with the number of registered motorcycles in the Philippines reaching nearly eight milllion units, electrification will help reduce emissions and dependence on fossil fuel.
Under the EO, EVs such as cars, trucks, van, electric tricycles, kick scooters, pocket motorcycles, and self-balancing cycles are included in the tax breaks. Strangely, motorcycles are not included in the tax breaks
“Only more affluent Filipinos — indeed a limited segment of the population — can afford to buy four-wheel vehicles, and hence enjoy these incentives,” Vitangcol said. The organization reiterated that the majority of motorists in the country are using two or three-wheeled vehicles including public utility tricycles.
“It is also they who are already perennially burdened by the soaring prices of basic goods and hampered by their limited income to provide for their families,” he added.
PBEST asserts that more Filipinos should be encouraged to shift to alternative energy regardless of their socio-economic status and the types of their vehicles.
“This is why the government must make these tax incentives more inclusive,” the Secretary General addressed.
Vitangcol also said that it is the government’s role to spearhead the country’s shift to electric vehicles as it will lessen the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels. Various types of renewable energy generation like wind, solar, bioenergy, hydro, and other renewables share at 23.7 percent of the country’s total power source.
The EO12 aims to help Filipinos to adapt to the usage of e-vehicles while decarbonizing and reducing the carbon emissions caused by the fueled-run vehicles. Due to the fact that the Philippines is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change, shifting to EVs is one of the country’s solutions to help weaken its effects and go full electric by 2040.
