Philippines wont exempt oil imports from VAT

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo stressed that her decision not to lift the expanded value added tax (VAT) on oil imports was the right thing to do. To defend her decision on the VAT, she launched the Switch Movement and Palit Ilaw (Bombilya) Electricity Conservation Program of the Department of Energy (DOE). The Palit Ilaw (Bombilya) or Switch to Compact Fluorescent Lamp (CFL) from incandescent bulb, is one of the alternative solutions that the Switch Movement had proposed to reduce electrical consumption. She ordered all government agencies to reduce their electricity bill by 10% by switching from incandescent bulb to the energy-efficient CFL. She announced that the national government, through the DOE, is allocating Php500 million (US$11 million) for the procurement of CFL to be distributed to all poor households in the National Capital Region (NCR). The allocation will be sourced from the Php4 billion (US$88.4 million) revenue generated by VAT during the second quarter of 2008 (April to July). (July 21, 2008)