MANILA, August 31, 2011?Militant groups will be out in the streets today to protest another round of oil price hikes.
In a statement, Pinag-isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston) said that it is about time to press the government and the existing oil “cartel” to implement a P9 ($0.21) rollback, per liter, on the prices of diesel and gasoline.
Meanwhile, the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Labor Center said, Shell, Petron and Caltex (a.k.a. as the Big Three) have been conniving in duping the people about the real prices of oil.
“The price rollback implemented on the third week of August was smaller than what the price movement in the world market dictates. After a price hike on the fourth week of August, another price hike is implemented this week – which is higher than what global price movements dictate,” KMU national chair Elmer “Bong” Labog said in a statement.
Labog said that the price rollback on the third week of August was preceded by the DOE’s statement that oil companies should rollback per liter prices by not less than P2.00.
“The Big 3 instead implemented a less than P2.00 price rollback, which legislators say is way below the P5.00 dictated by the world market,” said Labog.
While the Big Three had rolled back their pump prices by less than P2, on August 30, they have implemented another round of increase: P0.35 per liter for unleaded gasoline; P0.50 for regular gasoline; and P0.15 for kerosene. However, the Department of Energy (DOE) had issued a statement that the price hike, if truly based in the movement of the international oil market, should only be P0.18, per liter.
Labog said that the Big Three had been charging “more” since 2008, for their products and that the P9 rollback is justifiable.
Yesterday, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-National Capital Region (Bayan-NCR) had staged a lightning rally at the Pandacan Oil Depot in Manila to press for the P9 rollback. (Noel Sales Barcelona)
