MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE) The government will re-impose the three-percent tariff on oil products starting this Saturday, as local pump prices continue to go down, amid the decline in world crude prices, Finance Secretary Margarito Teves said Friday.

"It's a policy direction that we have to go back to three percent because the triggers are no longer there," Teves told reporters in Malacañang Friday.

"It's effective on November 1," he said, when asked when the three-percent tariff would be re-imposed.

Asked if the move would push up pump prices, Teves said: "I don't know if it will affect."

Calls by INQUIRER.net to representatives of oil firms were unanswered.

The government slashed tariffs on oil early this year to soften the impact of soaring world oil prices on the local market. A mechanism was set wherein certain "trigger" prices" would determine the size of the tariff reduction.

World prices rose to as high as $140 per barrel, but recently dropped to $60 per barrel. Oil companies rolled back diesel prices by P5-P6 per liter, and gasoline and kerosene prices by P2 per liter.