Oil companies to implement price cuts starting Friday
Posted at 09/17/2008 4:14 PM | Updated as of 09/17/2008 4:14 PM
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. is set to implement on Friday a P1 per liter price rollback in its petroleum products while two independent oil players are set to implement an additional P0.50 per liter rollback over the weekend.
Eastern Petroleum and Seaoil Philippines Inc. which implemented a P0.50 per liter reduction in their pump prices Wednesday said an additional P0.50 per liter rollback would be implemented over the weekend.
Pilipinas Shell meanwhile said its rollback of pump prices by P1 per liter would be effective Friday.
Other oil companies have yet to announce if they would also implement price cuts.
Higher cuts
Socioeconomic planning Secretary Ralph Recto meanwhile joined calls for oil companies to rollback prices by P5 per liter citing significant drop in world prices.
Pilipinas Shell however countered that a higher rollback would have been possible had they been allowed before, when crude prices were increasing, to have been able to recover their costs with higher increases also.
World crude prices have decreased significantly to levels below 100 dollars per barrel after peaking last July tat 147 dollars per barrel.
"Insult" to drivers
Activist transport group Pagkakaisa ng mga Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (PISTON) meanwhile has called the P0.50 per liter price rollback implemented Wednesday “an insult” to drivers and the Filipino people.
PISTON has been calling on oil companies and the government to implement a P7 per liter rollback in pump prices of petroleum products.
The activist group has blamed the government’s implementation of Value-Added Tax on petroleum products, Oil Deregulation Law and so-called connivance between the government and oil companies for the high oil prices in the country.
"Ang pag-iral ng deregulasyon at kawalan ng regulasyon ang sanhi ng pandadaya sa presyuhan na ginagawa ng mga oil companies sa presyo ng petrolyo. Ang gobyerno at Department of Energy, sa halip na protektahan ang interes ng taumbayan ang siyang umaaktong tagapagsalita at tagapagtanggol ng mga oil companies. Nililinlang pa tayo ng gobyerno at Department of Energy sa pagkakalat ng kasinungalingang gumagana daw ang deregulasyon dahil may umiiral daw na kumpetisyon sa pagitan ng mga oil companies,” said George San Mateo, PISTON secretary general, in a statement. With a report from Alvin Elchico, ABS-CBN News
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