Group demands P7 rollback in oil prices

MANILA, Philippines – The militant Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) yesterday demanded oil companies to roll back pump prices by at least P7 per liter as world crude prices steadily decrease.

Renato Reyes Jr., Bayan secretary-general, said the Brent crude prices have reached as low as $105 per barrel so that merely reducing pump prices by P1 per liter is “too small” as it is “unacceptable.”

The group said it is poised to launch more protest actions this month if the oil companies will not implement substantial rollbacks.

He raised suspicions over the tepid reaction of oil firms in the face of continuously decreasing prices of fuel in the world market.

“Something is really wrong and really evil with the oil companies’ callous stand when it comes to rolling back pump prices,” he said.

The situation, Reyes pointed out, merely emphasizes the “glaring failure” of the Oil Deregulation Law.

“Even if world prices go down, it is no assurance that oil companies here will bring down prices,” he added.

Reyes asserted that the P7 per liter rollback in pump prices merely represents the price increases in May and June.

He insisted that the oil companies have raised prices by more than P7 over the span of four months.

“They have burdened the people so much it is only right that they bring down prices substantially, given the prevailing world market prices,” Reyes said.

He also explained that the so-called Big Three – Shell, Petron, and Caltex – that refuse a rollback occupy a dominant position in the market.

These oil firms, he noted, control 90 percent of the pumping stations in the country, and have dominance in other aspects of the oil industry.

“That is why they think they can refuse a rollback even if the small players have implemented one. That is one flaw of the Deregulation Law because the oil industry is cartelized,” Reyes said.

Bayan also assailed the government for failing to take the big oil companies to task for their refusal to implement a substantial rollback.

He criticized the Department of Energy (DOE) for merely “going along with what the oil companies say.”

“The Arroyo government is not keen on seeing a substantial rollback because this means a smaller tax take through the value added tax,” he claimed.  – Katherine Adraneda