MANILA - Traders on Monday expressed doubt that the Duterte administration can prevent a further dilution of its tax reform bill.

Alvin Limlingan, managing director of Regina Capital, said President Duterte will find it hard to push for the government's tax reform bill considering that he was unable to convince Congress to give him emergency powers to solve Metro Manila's traffic despite calling for this in his first State of the Nation Address (SONA).

"There is no lobby protecting traffic, but there are a lot of vested interests that could be affected by tax reform," Limlingan said in an interview with ANC Market Edge.

"There are parties that are not going to agree with higher oil taxes and higher sugar taxes and so on and so forth," said Julian Tarrobago Jr., head of equities of ATR Asset Management.

But Tarrobago added that while a further dilution of the tax reform bill was inevitable in the Senate, even a watered-down tax reform bill could be considered a "game-changer."