Labor and transport groups strongly condemned another oil price increase set for February 17. The expected ₱1.60 per liter hike for gasoline and ₱0.70 per liter for diesel mark the seventh straight weekly increase since the start of 2026. Gasoline prices have risen by a net ₱3 per liter, diesel by ₱6.a40 per liter, and kerosene by ₱4.40 per liter since the year began. These increases have increased the burden of ordinary Filipinos.

In a protest in front of a Petron gas station in Quezon City last February 10, members of the Anakpawis Partylist denounced Ferdinand Marcos Jr for his regime’s collusion with major oil companies as the reaso for the oil price increases.

“Marcos Jr indulges his business cronies particularly Ramon Ang,” Anakpawis Party-list National Chairperson Ariel Casilao said. Ang is president and owner of Petron, the country’s largest oil company. “The state shamelessly fattens the capitalists’ pockets through their collusion to extract the wealth created by Filipino workers.”

In November 2025, Petron reported a profit increase of 37% or ₱9.7 billion. While oil companies rake in billions, the toiling masses suffer multi-layered hardship, the group said.

“The toiling masses’ hard-earned meagre wages are stolen by bureaucrat-capitalists for their corruption and deeper exploitation,” it said.

Stolen income

Piston underscored how the state and its allied oil companies are robbing drivers and operators through weekly price hikes. It pointed out that while Petron earns ₱1 billion net profit each month, jeepney drivers lose about ₱24,000 from their monthly income.

“Drivers using 30 liters a day lose ₱957 daily from oil price hikes,” the group said. “That’s even higher than the NCR minimum wage!”

Worse off are the drivers of so-called “modern” jeepneys, which consume about 60 liters a day, it added. This means a loss of ₱1,914 daily, or ₱47,850 monthly. The group said this worsens the burden of drivers now drowning in debt for being trapped in the bogus modernization scheme and forced into consolidated franchises.

“Moto-taxi” riders’ lose up to ₱6,000 in monthly income, while Grab and other TNVS (transport network vehicle service) drivers lose about ₱17,800 each month.

Piston slammed the Marcos regime’s “inutility” in controlling price hikes, mainly because it colludes with the oil cartel of Petron, Shell, and Caltex.

“The Marcos government perpetuates the oil deregulation law, which allows the oil cartel to amass billions in profit while ordinary people suffer,” it said.

The group asserted that drivers and operators have the right to a living income, just as workers have the right to a living wage.