In Bohol: Gas prices seen to reach P60/liter

TAGBILARAN CITY, Philippines  --- Gas dealers in the city admitted that fuel prices might reach P60 pesos per liter by end of July if the weekly increases continue as the peso weakens against the dollar. A rollback is expected this week, though, but it is yet uncertain whether this covers all the products

The seventh week in the consecutive increases of oil prices and the fourth round in the month of June took effect on Tuesday last week, June 25, when gasoline price increased by 45 centavos per liter, and diesel's and kerosene's by 90 centavos per liter. It followed the highest increase in the seven-week streak on June 18 when gasoline increased by P1.05 per liter, P1.45 per liter for diesel and P1.30 per liter for kerosene.

The series of weekly price increases followed right after the mid-term elections which brought the total oil price increase to P4.15 per liter for diesel and P3.80 per liter for gasoline.

What troubled government officials here however is that prices of petroleum products in Bohol remained higher than in Cebu until now.

Provincial Administrator Alfonso Damalerio II explained that oil dealers have traced the problem to the law of supply and demand and the distance of Bohol from the oil refineries in Luzon.

Governor Edgar Chatto, in an earlier episode of his weekly radio program, Kita ug ang Gobernador, said this issue had been tackled in the latest meeting of the Regional Development Council-Region 7 two weeks ago, and its chair, Cebu City Mayor Mike Rama created a technical working group (TWG) to check the cause of fuel prices in Bohol being higher than in Cebu by P5 to P8 per liter.

Based on the results of the study conducted by the TWG, it was determined that Bohol prices were higher than in Cebu, and that the law and supply caused the disparity.

"I think the consumption in Cebu is double the consumption of fuel in Bohol. Cebu has a population of about 2.1 million while Bohol has a population of only 1.2 million. With this, it means there are more consumers in Cebu and more volume of fuel is needed," Damalerio said, adding that Cebu dealers can purchase in bulk which is cheaper.

Damalerio said the population in Bohol might be high but the transport industry here is not as lively, which explained that gas dealers here might be purchasing their supply at higher prices, because they could not purchase in bulk as the demand here is not as high as in Cebu.

"But we are happy that other players proceeded in coming in here, like the Fil Oil and Total Philippines. What I learned is that they (Fil Oil group) are going to put up their depot in Bien Unido. Total is still under negotiation in Albur. With more players coming in, there would be better price adjustment," added Damalerio. (FREEMAN)