Piston: Oil price rollback not enough

MANILA, Philippines - The militant transport group Piston (Pagkakaisa ng Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operaytor Nationwide) expressed dismay over what they branded as a measly rollback of prices of unleaded gasoline and the unchanged price of diesel.

George San Mateo, Piston president, said that this unsatisfactory 30- to 60-centavo cut on the pump prices of gasoline will be one of the issues they would raise in today’s Labor Day commemoration with protest actions led by the Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU).

San Mateo said from 500 to 1,000 public utility jeepney and FX drivers are slated to join KMU in their protest today, as they condemn the anti-poor, anti-consumer, and pro-foreign interest policies of the Aquino administration.

He said Piston condemns the coddling or even the connivance of the Aquino administration with oil companies that were engaged in alleged overpricing of petroleum products after Malacañang refused to scrap the Oil Deregulation Law and suspend the 12 percent value added tax on oil products.

San Mateo said the failure to roll back the price of diesel and the measly reduction of gas rates were unjustified.

He said that there was no reason for giant oil companies, particularly Shell and Petron, not to roll back diesel prices since they were both oil refiners that import raw crude from the Middle East.

He said that both are oil refiners control 63 percent of the market in the country, and the raw crude they import from the Middle East is refined into diesel, gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas.

San Mateo said that this “dagdag-bawas” system used by oil companies in the pricing of diesel and oil was proof of overpricing.

He said the oil companies are allowed to do this because of the Downstream Oil Deregulation Law that the President refused to scrap.

San Mateo said that Malacañang refused to void this law because the government profited from the 12 percent value added tax imposed on the high oil prices.