Minimal oil price rollback seen next week  

MANILA, Philippines — Motorists will get a slight reprieve after back-to-back oil price hikes as pump prices are seen having a minimal rollback next week.

Cleanfuel said running trend as of yesterday points to a potential P0.50 per liter reduction in gasoline and P0.70 per liter decrease in diesel.

“Indication of the first four trading days this week is that we will see a rollback next week,” Department of Energy (DOE)-Oil Industry Management Bureau director Rino Abad said in an interview with dzBB yesterday.

Abad estimates a less than P1 per liter reduction for gasoline, diesel and kerosene for next week. He, however, said final day of trading could still affect these estimates upward or downward.

The price adjustments will be announced by oil companies on Monday, which will take effect the next day.

Pump prices have gone up the past two weeks by a cumulative amount of P2 for gasoline, P9.55 for diesel and P6.40 for kerosene.

Last Tuesday alone, gasoline prices increased by P0.80 per liter, diesel by P2.70 per liter and kerosene by P2.90 per liter.

These brought year-to-date total adjustments to stand at a net increase of P16.45 per liter for gasoline, P38.50 per liter for diesel and P29.65 per liter for kerosene, according to data from the DOE.

Fuel tax  suspension

Meanwhile, fisherfolk group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) has reiterated its call for the suspension of excise tax on fuel, saying that the measure could slash the small fishers’ fuel cost by P160 per fishing trip.

In a statement, Pamalakaya said the Marcos administration’s continued refusal to suspend the excise tax on petroleum products is “an utter neglect to the ailing fisherfolk and other marginalized sectors vulnerable to cumulative oil price hikes.”

“Small fishers need a big-time rollback on oil prices because we are already drowning in debt due to high cost of production and plummeting income,” Pamalakaya national spokesman Ronnel Arambulo said.

The group lamented that the recent oil price increase marked up the fuel cost of a fisherfolk who regularly consumes 10 liters of diesel per fishing trip to P780 based on P78 per liter of diesel.

Pamalakaya said that if excise tax on fuel would be suspended, the production cost of a small fisherfolk, in which 80 percent goes to fuel expenses alone, could be slashed by at least P160 per fishing trip or a total of P2,560 per month with 16 fishing days.

“Suspension of fuel tax along with sufficient and immediate rollout of production subsidies will increase productivity among the fishers,” Arambulo said.

Pamalakaya also reiterated its call to Congress to prioritize the passage of proposed House Bill 2024, filed by the Makabayan bloc, seeking to distribute a P15,000 production subsidy to each fisherfolk to cover fuel cost for two months. –  Elizabeth Marcelo