The House of Representatives will freeze the proposed road user's tax bill if the bicameral conference committee finalizes it and endorses it for enactment.
"We stand by our commitment to indefinitely shelve this measure. The prevailing consensus in the House does not favor its approval at this time," Speaker Manuel Villar Jr. told reporters yesterday.
He said the bill would stay in the freezer even if it is approved in the conference committee level.
For his part, Majority Leader Eduardo Gullas said House leaders are sticking to the word they gave President Estrada last week that the larger chamber would shelve the road tax bill.
"The President made the request for deferring the enactment of this bill indefinitely and we agreed. We are not abandoning that," he said.
Besides, he said, "people are overburdened with so many taxes, and they cannot afford any additional imposition."