LTFRB: No fare hike this month

Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) Chairman Dante Lantin assured the riding public yesterday that there will be no fare increases for the whole of March.

Lantin made the announcement following a meeting of the National Price Coordinating Council (NPCC) which, for its part, said that any price increase by the manufacturing sector will be held off.

According to NPCC chairman and Trade and Industry Secretary Manuel Roxas II, local manufacturers assured him they can hold off a price increase until they have assessed the impact of a fare hike on wages, which would then have more of an impact on their cost.

The manufacturing sector, Roxas said, admit that transport cost is only a small part of their operating expenses.

Calls for a wage hike, however, would have more of an impact on their production cost, manufacturers said.

Roxas, in an earlier interview, said prices of basic goods "may be affected if transportation fare increases also lead to wage increases. We do not really know up to how long or how far our manufacturers can absorb losses."

The LTFRB will conduct its first hearing on the fare hike petition of two transport groups on March 20, Lantin said.

The LTFRB chairman explained that barring opposition that may request a delay in the hearings – which the board will have to grant – the LTFRB will be able to make a decision two weeks after the hearing.

Because of this, Lantin said, there will be no fare hikes for ordinary jeeps and buses for the month of March.

Last Feb. 21, public transport operators vowed to suspend a plan to petition the government for a P1 fare increase. However, they refused to make a commitment on how long they would freeze fares.

President Arroyo, in turn, ordered concerned government agencies to work out ways to ease the operations cost of public jeepneys and buses, such as reduce tariffs on spare parts of imported vehicles.

Two major supermarkets’ associations, the Philippine Association of Supermarkets Inc. and the Philippine Amalgamated Association of Supermarkets (Pag-Asa), said their prices and supply remain normal and stable.

Roxas added that a survey of prices of basic commodities show that chicken prices have actually gone down while prices of pork and beef remain normal with some slight fluctuation.

Prices of fish staples such as bangus remain at P70 per kilo, while tilapia retails at P60 per kilo.

The National Food Authority (NFA), Roxas said, reported that it has a 90-day supply of rice and more is expected with the harvest season this March.

Sugar, on the other hand, has a current stockpile of 120 days with the price of refined sugar stable at P28 per kilo and raw or brown sugar at P24 per kilo.

For processed food products, sardines cost around P8 to P8.50 a can while noodles cost from P4 to P4.50.

The Department of Energy (DOE) also assured there is a 70-day supply of crude oil, of which 45 days’ worth is already in the country while the remaining 25-day supply is in transit.

The DOE has also ordered crude oil good for another 36 days – which will meet the country’s requirement for oil in May – plus another order, good for 23 days, for June.

The other day, industrialist and consumer advocate Raul Concepcion gave his assurance that local manufacturers are holding off any price increases even as they nervously await the outcome of the ongoing crisis in the Middle East.

However, Concepcion said there was an increase in the prices of products with imported components such as milk, resins, steel and aluminum.

Local milk manufacturers may have to increase prices again if the peso deteriorates to P55 to $1, he added. The peso is now trading at around P54.50 to $1.

He also said prices of packaging products may soon increase following the tremendous hike in the price of resins.

Steel prices have also gone up following the move of South Korea and Japan to increase their prices.

However, the effect on the construction industry, Concepcion said, will be felt only by April, the start of the summer construction season.

Earlier, Mrs. Arroyo appealed to the transport sector to defer requests for a fare increase. She said the Iraq crisis will be "short and temporary," and urged the public to bear with rising fuel prices for the time being.

She added that oil prices "should return to pre-crisis levels quickly."

Bus firms have petitioned government regulators to allow them to raise fares after pump prices soared to an all-time high in mid-February, amid global expectation that the United States and its allies would attack Iraq shortly.

The petition covers only ordinary buses but not air-conditioned buses, which are not subject to regulation by the LTFRB.

The fares of air-conditioned buses can be automatically increased, provided there is a public notice posted in the buses for one week, according to bus operators.

The Philippines imports most of its oil from the Middle East.

Mrs. Arroyo, however, said a fare hike petition "may add to instability and social unrest. A fare hike is usually followed by increases in the prices of basic commodities."

Officials fear a war between the US and Iraq might force thousands of Filipinos working in the Middle East to return home jobless.

Social Welfare Secretary Corazon Soliman said her agency has set aside P100 million to provide them loans in case they want to set up small businesses.

There are at least 1.5 million Filipinos in the Middle East, almost a million in Saudi Arabia alone.