An initiative by an oil firm to lock the prices of gasoline and diesel for a certain period of time is seen as a means to minimize the effect of the continual oil price hike on the part of the consumers.
Cebu City Councilor Arsenio Pacaña, chairman of the City Council committee on trade, commerce, cooperatives and entrepreneurship, is calling on the top three oil companies in the Philippines to follow the initiative of Sea Oil Philippines, Inc. in coming up with a prepaid card that locks the price of gasoline for a given timeframe.
Under the scheme, the price-lock prepared card allows the holder to buy 20 liters of gasoline at a locked price for 11 days. In the instance of a price rollback during the period, the consumer is also given a refund of the difference.
Pacaña said the initiative would provide relief to motorists amidst the continuing increase in the prices of gasoline and diesel and demands of transport groups for government to set the minimum fare at P8.
Pacaña said the rising price of crude, which is currently pegged in the world market at $140 per barrel and still rising, strongly indicates that oil firms in the country would be increasing the prices of fuel on a weekly basis in order to cope with the surging world prices of crude oil.
Economic experts and analysts reportedly fear that the negative impact of the runaway petroleum prices pose a dangerous threat to the economic and political stability of the country.
“Before the sky-high prices in oil would further add more pressure on people’s lives, it is imperative that government and the private sector adopt novel schemes or solutions to bring an immediate relief to consumers,” Pacaña said.
The recent price increase in oil products - the 17th in the weekly adjustment implemented by oil companies for the past few months – occurred last Saturday.
Last June 21, the country’s biggest oil companies — Shell, Petron and Caltex – and small players Total and UniOil increased the prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene products by P1.50 per liter.
The Nagkahiusang Drayber sa Sugbu will be holding a transport strike today despite a recent order that granted another 50-centavo provisional increase in the fare, which raised to P7 the minimum fare in Central Visayas.
Other organizations, like the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan, are also supporting the transport the strike, which is expected to also seek for a P125 hike in minimum wage.
Their demands also include repealing the Oil Deregulation Law and scrapping the 12 percent expanded value-added tax imposed on gasoline, said Arman Perez of party-list Bayan Muna. — Joeberth M. Ocao/LPM