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Senator Bam Aquino’s proposal to reduce the Value-Added Tax (VAT) gained mainstream attention after it was featured on the noontime program It’s Showtime. The segment aired on Monday, bringing the discussion of the proposed tax cut to a wider audience through a game portion of the show.

During the “Laro Laro Pick” segment, host Vice Ganda ask about Aquino’s Senate Bill No. 2047 as a trivia question for a contestant, who stood a chance to win P100,000. The bill seeks to lower the VAT rate on goods and services from 12 percent to 10 percent.

“Para makatulong sa middle class sa gitna ng tumitinding crisis, nag-file ng Senate Resolution (Bill) si Senator Bam Aquino na magpapababa ng VAT mula twelve percent to ten percent. Naririnig mo ba yung salitang, yung term na VAT? Binabayaran natin ‘yan araw-araw. Maya’t maya araw-araw ‘di ba?” Vice Ganda told the contestant.

(For the middle class to get help amid the worsening crisis, Senator Bam Aquino filed a Senate resolution (bill) that will lower VAT from 12 percent to 10 percent. Have you heard the term VAT? We pay for it every day, almost all the time, right?)

“Iyon, ‘di ba, iyong buwis, yung VAT, ‘di ba? Yung T doon ano tax. ‘Di ba? V-A-T. Yung T, tax. Yung VAT na sinasabi natin, ang tanong ko simple lang. Ano yung V sa VAT?” she added.

(That’s it, right? That tax, VAT, right? The T there means tax. V-A-T. The T is tax. The VAT we’re talking about, my question is simple—what does the V in VAT stand for?)

The contestant, however, failed to answer Vice Ganda correctly. VAT stands for Value-Added Tax.

Vice Ganda then lauded Sen. Bam for filing the measure, saying it will help lower the prices of goods and services, including petroleum products.

“Si Senator Bam Aquino, maganda ‘tong naisip niya. Iyong nag-file siya ng Senate Bill 2047 that seeks to reduce VAT on goods and services, including petroleum products. ‘Di ba? Makakabawas-bawas. Maganda ‘yan,” she said.

(Senator Bam Aquino came up with a good idea. He filed Senate Bill 2047 that seeks to reduce VAT on goods and services, including petroleum products. It will help cut costs. That’s good.)

In his measure, Sen. Aquino said the move could provide medium- and long-term solutions to shield the middle class from the impacts of the ongoing global oil crisis and other future shocks.

By lowering VAT (value-added tax), Sen. Aquino said the measure would help ease the burden on consumers — especially the middle class, which does not receive government aid — amid high prices of petroleum products and other goods brought about by the ongoing oil crisis.

Sen. Aquino also co-authored and co-sponsored in the Senate the recently enacted Republic Act No. 12316, which grants the President emergency powers to suspend or reduce excise taxes on petroleum products.

As early as July 8, 2025, just days after assuming his post as a lawmaker, Sen. Aquino filed Senate Bill No. 265, seeking the abolition of excise taxes imposed on diesel, kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), fuel oil, and unleaded gasoline under the TRAIN Law.