Oil prices rise in rapid succession
The oil companies have foisted an added burden on an already suffering people. This March, the country�s three biggest oil companies�Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Caltex Philippines Inc. and Petron Corp. and even the smaller companies like Seaoil Philippines Corp., Flying V, Unioil Petroleum Philippines Corp. and Eastern Petroleum Corp.�delivered a whammy of P2-2.50 price hikes.
Jacked-up gasoline, diesel and kerosene prices were effected through four successive 50-centavo increments (and in one instance, a P1 increment). Petron also raised the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by P1 per kilo. Even before the price hikes this March, the oil companies had already increased prices twice in February. The fourth round of oil price hikes is scheduled before the end of the month. The price of diesel is currently P25.80 per liter and that of unleaded gasoline from P29.60 to P30.20 per liter. Gasoline prices have risen by P2 per liter and diesel and kerosene by almost P4 per liter this year.
The oil companies have invoked the higher price of Dubai crude which now stands at $55 per barrel. In fact, the rise and fall of crude oil prices in the world market have nothing to do with the way monopoly corporations set prices. These companies arbitrarily set prices to amass superprofits and do not even abide by their own pricing formulas. Had they done so, they would have come out overcharging the public by P6.2 billion in 2004.
The oil companies are pleased no end with the price increases that have come in rapid succession. Aside from the four oil price hikes this March, they warn of even more increases in the following months, supposedly to enable them to recoup losses of P10 per liter!
As before, the Department of Energy (DoE) has done nothing but rationalize the jacked-up prices of oil products. Just recently, it merely requested the oil companies to effect gradual increases in the prices of oil products.
Now the DoE is conditioning the people�s minds to accept an estimated P2.65 per liter hike once the value-added tax (VAT) is imposed on petroleum products. Malaca�ang expects to reap some P45-56 billion in taxes from the oil industry.
With the size and frequency of such price increases, the token P1 discount for diesel that public vehicles can avail of only in 250 gasoline stations (out of the total 4,000 nationwide) has been rendered meaningless.
To avoid the people�s mounting anger, Gloria Arroyo has ordered a review of RA 8479 or the oil deregulation law supposedly with a view to amend it. But it is not enough to review a law that has caused the people extreme hardship. We must be rid of it and the Arroyo regime as well.
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