MANILA (PNA) — Malacañang will respect the ruling of the Supreme Court (SC) after it issued a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) regarding the planned imposition of 12 percent Expanded Value-Added Tax (EVAT) on toll fees, Presidential Spokesman Edwin Lacierda said on Friday.

”The Office of the Solicitor General is prepared to discuss and argue the merits of the case,” Lacierda added.

The SC issued on Friday an order stopping the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) from imposing EVAT on toll fees.

The High Tribunal also asked the DOF and the BIR to explain within 10 days their planned imposition of EVAT on toll fees which was questioned by former Nueva Ecija Rep. Renato Diaz Jr. and former Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) Assistant Secretary Aurora Timbol.

Diaz and Timbol said in their petition that toll fees on roads and highways are excluded from the list of services subject to EVAT.