Amid the impending oil price hike on April 29, the so-called “biggest rollback” in prices implemented this year will be wiped out.

An additional ₱1.35 per liter will be imposed on gasoline, ₱0.80 on diesel, and ₱0.70 on kerosene. This will be on top of the significant price increase implemented last April 22: ₱1.35 per liter for gasoline, ₱1.30 for diesel, and ₱1.10 for kerosene.

The consecutive increases has rendered meaningless the price reductions implemented by oil companies last April 15 by ₱3.60/liter for gasoline, ₱2.90 for diesel, and ₱3.30 for kerosene. The public benefited from lower prices very briefly, bringing relief only for the Holy Week.

Compared to prices in January, oil prices continue to surge despite several rollbacks. As of now, gasoline has registered a net increase of ₱3.60/liter and diesel ₱3.65/liter. Only kerosene has registered a net decrease of ₱1.10/liter.

The rapid and weekly fluctuations in prices result from speculation by large financial companies that control the global oil market, as well as by the OPEC big oil companies which control production.

To provide more substantial relief to the people, progressive groups are calling for the removal of taxes on oil, which further raise prices, and the repeal of the Oil Deregulation Law, which allows local oil companies to arbitrarily increase prices.