PISTON: P2.70/liter diesel price hike to lose us P81 per day

Transport group PISTON on Tuesday criticized the P2.70 increase per liter of diesel prices, saying it would cut a big chunk of their daily earnings.

Interviewed on Unang Balita, PISTON national president Mody Floranda said that the oil price hike would greatly affect jeepney drivers as it would take away about P81 from them per day.

“Malaking epeketo ang pagtaas ng P2.70 per liter sapagkat kapag tinignan natin, halos P81 per day ang nawalang kita ng drayber at mga operator na dapat ito’y nagagagmit na sa pangangailangan ng kanilang pamilya,” he said.

(The P2.70 per liter price increase has great effect on us because if we would look at it, about P81 of the savings per day of the drivers and operators will be lost, which is supposedly for the needs of their family.)

“Kapag tinignan natin sa loob ng 25 days ay halos P2,000 ’yung direct na nawala dahil nga sa epekto ng pagtaas ng presyo ng petrolyo,” he added

(In 25 days, about P2,000 will be directly slashed from us because of the effect of the oil price hike.)

PISTON on Tuesday morning staged a protest rally in front of a gasoline station in Quezon City to air their grievance regarding the oil price hike.

Among the group’s appeal for the government is to abolish the Oil Deregulation Law, as well as the excise tax on petroleum products.

“Malaki ang magagawa ng administrasyon. Una ay ibasura itong e-vat, ‘yung excise tax sa langis. ‘Yung TRAIN law ay kailangan tanggalin ng ating pamahalaan para mabalik sa kontrol ng gobyerno ‘yung bawat paggalaw ng presyo ng petrolyo,” Floranda said.

(The administration can do a lot. First, this e-vat or excise tax on oil should be abolished. The TRAIN law needs to be abolished so that the government can have control again on the movements in the price of petroleum products.)

Oil companies on Monday announced that they will increase prices per liter of gasoline by P2.65, diesel by P2.70, and kerosene by P2.60.

The adjustments will take effect at 6 a.m. on Tuesday, October 15, for all the firms except for Cleanfuel, which will increase prices at 4:01 p.m. the same day.

The latest announcements are in line with projections made by the Department of Energy-Oil Industry Management Bureau (DOE-OIMB), citing concerns on supply disruption due to the ongoing geopolitical concerns, production cuts, and unplanned refinery outages.

Middle East conflict

DOE-OIMB director Rino Abad said the ongoing conflict in Middle Eastern countries is the primary reason for the increase in fuel products.

“Pero liwanagin ho natin, wala hong nangyayaring supply disruption. Wala hong pagpigil na nangyayari doon sa Persian Gulf sa delivery ng mga oil. So ito ho ay most likely, ito ay dala ng speculation, ‘yung pag-increase,” he explained in a separate Unang Balita interview.

(But let's be clear—there is no disruption happening in the supplies. There is no issue in the delivery of oil products in the Persian Gulf. So the increase in prices is most likely just brought about by speculations.)

“At some point, magwe-wane off po ang effect nito at babalik ulit tayo sa fundamental situation before the Iran attack to Israel na meron ho talagang pagkaroon ng oversupply at paghina nung demand,” he continued.

(At some point, the effect of this will wane off and we will return to the fundamental situation before the Iran-Israel conflict, where there was an oversupply and a less demand of oil products.)

Abad said there may be rollbacks in oil prices in the near future should the tension in the Middle Eastern countries eases. — Giselle Ombay/RSJ, GMA Integrated News