Oil price hikes
THE poor, who comprise the bulk of the population, are expected to bear the full brunt of the continued “upward surge” in global oil prices following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
In the Philippines, a major importer of oil and other petroleum products, the net cumulative increase has reached P11.65 for diesel, P9.65 for gasoline and P10.30 for kerosene.
In the view of various quarters, the situation in the country, without doubt, is certainly alarming since hundreds of thousands of Filipinos are still jobless and underemployed.
Even Undersecretary Gerardo Erguiza Jr. of the Department of Energy (DOE) noted that the global demand for oil has been picking up while production is not able to keep up.
Erguiza said that there has been a commitment from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to increase production as early as October last year “but this is not sustained.”
The DOE, he said, has asked the Senate and the House of Representatives to amend the oil deregulation law and suspend the excise on oil products once prices hit $80 per barrel.
Yesterday, the country’s oil firms implemented the ninth weekly consecutive fuel price hike this year, drawing howls and protests from the beleaguered Filipino people.
And the public asked: “Should the the country’s drivers, passengers, commuters and consumers continue bearing the brunt of these oil price hikes?”
The government ought to do something to unburden the citizens of these price hikes in line with its mandate to provide basic social services to the Filipino people.
We share the view of many, including the ordinary citizens across the Philippines, that the outgoing Duterte administration is still capable upholding public interest.
