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By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Reporter
Oil companies are expected to implement another
price hike this weekend as soaring crude prices compounded by the
weakening peso continue to pull pump prices up.
An oil company official on Friday said the
prices of diesel, gasoline and kerosene are set to increase by P1.50
per liter today—the eighth-straight week of higher fuel prices and
the 15th implemented by the oil firms for the year.
The official requested not to be named after the
Department of Energy earlier barred oil companies from disclosing to
media fuel-price movements so as not to cause “undue panic and
anxiety” on the public.
For the month of June, the oil firms are
expected to increase prices by P7.50 per liter because of their
growing underrecoveries in lieu of high crude prices during the
previous month.
With the seemingly unceasing price increases
being implemented by the oil firms, various groups have come out to
offer proposals and at the same time air their grievances on the
fuel-price surge.
Militant groups also on Friday decried the oil
firms’ impending price hike, warning that a “perfect storm” of
social unrest is looming with the unmitigated and steep increases in
petroleum prices as more and more Filipinos are driven into poverty.
“Recent estimates claim that a 10-percent
increase in oil prices translates to an additional 160,000 poor
people. Since the start of the year, average pump prices in the
country have jumped by more than 20 percent which means that the
number of poor Filipinos could have already increased by around
320,000 in less than six months,” Renato Reyes Jr., Bayan
secretary-general, said.
Bayan and other groups staged a simultaneous
noise barrage in various areas around Metro Manila and again pressed
for the scrapping of the 12-percent value-added tax (VAT) on oil to
immediately bring down pump prices.
Rep. Amado Bagatsing of Manila called on
international organizations such as the United Nations, the G7 and
the European Union to stop open trading of oil products in the world
market.
He said trading speculations leading to oil
market panic had jacked up the prices of crude to $140 per barrel,
thereby putting in distress the economies of Third World and
developing countries, including the Philippines.
Also beginning to feel the pinch of high crude
prices, the oil firms have started to implement a number of measures
to mitigate the impact of high fuel costs on their customers.
Seaoil Philippines, Inc. has started to offer
prepaid cards that peg a customer’s gasoline purchase at P53.50
per liter.
Company officials said that since the price has
been fixed, cardholders will have an easier time budgeting their
fuel expenses as they will be insulated from further spikes in
gasoline costs during the promo period.
Flying V has begun to give scholarships to
beneficiaries of various transport groups in the National Capital
Region. Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. earlier
said they would increase the number of beneficiaries for their own
scholarships.
Prior to today’s anticipated price hike, the
oil firms have increased prices equivalent to P9 per liter for
gasoline and P8 per liter for diesel.
And it gets worse as oil prices continue to be
jacked up further, which would result in more price hikes next
month.
As of June 13, the regional benchmark Dubai
crude’s average rose by about $5 from its May average to $124.27 a
barrel. Also, imported gasoline rose to $138.85 a barrel and diesel
to $166.77 a barrel.
Last week, the oil firms raised prices, bringing
the price of unleaded gasoline to P53.33 to P56.26 per liter, diesel
to P45.80 to P48.47 per liter, kerosene to P50.15 to P53.80 per
liter and cooking gas to P604 to P650 per 11-kilogram tank.
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