Oil price rollbacks not enough to brace drivers for soaring inflation — transport group

MANILA, Philippines — Despite the scheduled rollbacks in fuel prices this week, fuel prices still remain high and out of reach for ordinary drivers and consumers, transport group the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide or Piston said Tuesday.

Marking the first rollback in prices after two consecutive weeks of price hikes, local oil firms announced in separate advisories earlier this week that they were set to implement minimal rollbacks in fuel prices from P0.35 per liter to P1.10 per liter.

In a statement sent to the media, Piston said that the volatile but unregulated price of oil will only continue to aggravate the grave economic situation of Filipinos without clear economic solutions from the government, and soaring food prices likely to persist for the rest of the year.

“This is a meager rollback compared to two consecutive big oil price hikes. Ever since the consecutive increase in the price of oil at the beginning of this year until Marcos Jr. took office, drivers and small operators still have no comfort," Piston national president Mody Floranda said in Filipino.

"Even if the fare has been raised twice, because the price of oil is still high, the take-home income of the drivers remains unsustainable."

According to a survey from the Social Weather Stations from September 29 to October 2, 49 percent of Filipino families consider themselves poor. The latest Pulse Asia survey, meanwhile, found a significant number of Filipinos are unhappy with how Marcos has dealt with the country’s inflation woes.

Floranda on Tuesday said that the Marcos Jr. administration is yet to lay out clear economic recovery plans amid the country’s inflation accelerating to 6.9 percent in September with the growing prices of food, water, electricity, and fuel as major contributing factors.

Global oil prices are expected to hike in the coming months with oil companies historically raising prices in time for increased consumption during the winter season in the northern hemisphere. High food prices will also likely prevail in the Philippines as the holidays draw near.

Piston also reiterated what it said was the urgent need to suspend fuel excise tax and VAT and the immediate passage of oil regulation bills currently pending in Congress.

"The year is coming to an end but it looks like the Marcos Jr. administration still needs to adjust its priorities," said Floranda.

"The first is the immediate solution to completely lower and control the price of oil because it seems that the government is only useful as a monitor of the movement in the price of oil."