Gas up by P1, LPG down by 50¢

MANILA, Philippines - Oil companies increased last Tuesday prices of gasoline by P1 per liter and diesel by 75 centavos per liter due to the continuing rise of global oil prices.

Seaoil Philippines announced its price hike late Tuesday, followed by Phoenix Philippines, Flying V, Chevron Philippines, Pilipinas Shell and Petron Corp.

LPG Marketers Association president Arnel Ty, meanwhile, announced a rollback of 50 centavos per kilo in the price of liquefied petroleum gas.

Average Dubai crude, the benchmark of oil refiners, went up to $76 per barrel on March 2, 2010 compared to the $73 per barrel last February.

Unleaded gasoline at the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), price gauge of oil importers, stood at $89 per barrel versus the previous $87.

Diesel at MOPS, on the other hand, also increased to $87 per barrel from $84 last February.

This is the fourth time that the oil companies raised their pump prices this year.

The militant transport group Pagkakaisa ng Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operaytor Nationwide (Piston) condemned the new oil price hike.

George San Mateo, secretary-general of Piston, said that the higher oil prices would worsen the burden of drivers of passenger jeepneys and buses.

He said drivers now earn a daily income ranging from P200 to P300 and the latest gas price increase will further cut their income.

He said the latest price hike brought the price range of diesel to P34 to P34.50 per liter in Metro manila and P42 to P43 per liter in the provinces.

“The government should really take action now to stop further price increases through price controls and the scrapping of the Oil Deregulation Law,” he added.

San Mateo said that the seeming inability of government, especially Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes to put oil companies in line for them to impose reasonable price hikes was enough reason for Malacañang to replace him.

“We are calling for the ouster of Secretary Reyes because he has been inutile, and worse, he has been conniving with the Big 3 (oil companies Shell, Chevron and Petron),” San Mateo said.

“The situation will only get worse if Reyes will stay there,” San Mateo added.

San Mateo said that Reyes’ ouster should pose no problem for Malacañang especially in view of the Supreme Court ruling that government executives running for elective posts in the coming May 2010 polls are deemed resigned upon filing their certificates of candidacy.

San Mateo said that Piston would spearhead a move to block Reyes’ attempt to be elected into the House of Representatives as representative of the public transport party-list group 1-UTAK (United Transport Koalisyon).

San Mateo said that they see Reyes’ bid to become a party-list congressman in the 15th Congress as a scheme by the Big 3 oil companies and Malacañang to put another man in Congress. With Rainier Allan Ronda