Transport operators: Oil tariff reduction too small

Public transport operators in Cebu said the one percent cut in the tariff of imported crude oil will have no effect to them and to the riding public contrary to Malacañang’s claim that it will reduce the pump price by at least 46 centavos.

Florentino Palacio, owner of the Palacio Shipping Lines, said the projected decrease in the crude oil price because of the tariff reduction is not enough to offset the series of pump price increases in the past four months.

Palacio said an estimated accumulated increase in crude oil prices could already reached to P2 per liter. But despite these increases, Palacio said they have not increased their fares.

He stressed that whatever decrease in pump price brought about by the one-percent tariff reduction is nothing and will not have any significant effect.

Cebu Provincial Bus Operators Association president Nick Villahermosa shared the same opinion, saying that the decrease of several centavos in the imported crude oil price is insignificant to them.

According to Villahermosa, the riding public could not expect a decrease in bus fares even if the crude oil price will go down because they are collecting below the approved fare set by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board.

He said the LTFRB has allowed them to collect P1.35 per kilometer but they are only collecting P1.

Palacio urged the government that instead of reducing the oil import tariff, it should subsidize the shipping operators by giving them special prices. He said if this was made possible for the airline companies, there is no reason why this could not be made possible for them.

Palacio admitted that because of the series of fuel price increases, they are already studying the possibility of reducing the number of their trips. He, however, assured that they have not yet considered increasing the fare.

The other day, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo ordered a one-percent reduction in the tariff of imported crude oil to cushion the impact of the soaring prices in the world market.

Department of Finance Secretary Margarito Teves claimed that the move would bring down crude oil prices by as much as 46 centavos per liter. — Fred P. Languido/LPM