Senator Manuel Roxas II said prices of unleaded gasoline sold locally should be cut by as much as P10 per liter to match the rate of decline in the cost of crude oil in the international market.
Roxas, chairman of the Senate committee on trade and commerce, reiterated that the price of diesel sold in gas stations should be P25 per liter at most.
“I am irked with the way they are taking advantage of our people. These (oil) firms are leeches sucking the blood of our people. The price of crude oil has gone down in the international market but they are so slow in doing the same,” he said.
“I made some calculations on the cost of unleaded gasoline. It is now sold at P35 per liter. In my calculation, it should be cut by P10 more,” he added, saying the cost of unleaded gasoline should range from P22.40 to P24.53 per liter.
He explained that Dubai crude averaged $49.84/bbl in November (as of Nov. 28), dropping 62 percent from the $131/bbl in July. When converted according to the respective peso-dollar rates (P49.18 to $1 average as of Nov. 28), this means a 58.4 percent drop to P15.42/L.
Roxas noted that the price of unleaded gasoline went down by only 39 percent during the same time period, from P58.96 in July to P35.96 in November. If local oil companies follow the sliding cost of crude oil in the world market, then unleaded gasoline should be sold for as low as P22.40/L to P24.53/L.
Roxas said if the Department of Energy does its job and compels the country’s three biggest oil companies to show their financial books, then it would discover that these firms have been raking in big money and taking advantage of consumers.
In a statement, Roxas also urged the DOE to stop tolerating the oil companies’ indifference to calls for them to bare their financial records.
“The DOE should stop defending the oil companies’ pricing. Why is it defending it anyway? The DOE should be protecting us. Its role is to protect the interest of the people,” he said.
Roxas also asked why the DOE is not running after the big oil companies which have not lowered the oil prices enough.
“Does the Senate really have to do the job of the DOE? That’s why we have been prodding the DOE because it is not doing its job properly,” he added.