DOE sees diesel, gas price rollbacks next week

MANILA, Philippines — A Department of Energy (DOE) official said the country may experience price rollbacks of P6 per liter for gas, and P12 per liter for diesel, respectively, next week, noting that oil sold lower in the global market in the previous days.

DOE Undersecretary Gerardo Erguiza said diesel prices may register a P12 per liter rollback, while gas is expected to go down by P6 per liter by next week. 

"As announced in the industry, [diesel] will be as low as P12...From the estimate given to us, [gas will go down by] almost P6 based on the trend in the last three days," Erguiza told ANC Headstart in an interview on Friday. 

He explained that the average prices of the Dubai crude went down from Monday to Wednesday this week, which indicates that local pump prices may soon go down as early as next week. 

This week, there was a day when the Dubai crude reached $16 per barrel, according to him.

Erguiza said he sees "good indications" which will bode well for the global oil market in the coming days, such as the commitment of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries to produce more oil, the lifting of sanctions against Iran, and what he called as the improvement of the geopolitical war between Ukraine and Russia. 

Even if fuel prices are expected to go down by as much as P12 per liter, fisherfolk group Pamalakaya said this is not enough to restore the impacts of the sustained fuel price hikes since the start of the year. 

“The P12-projected rollback on prices of oil products is actually insufficient given their dramatic increases by around P20-P30 per liter since the beginning of the year. We demand a drastic decrease on the prices of oil products for us to return to our regular fishing production," Pamalakaya National spokesperson Ronnel Arambulo said in an emailed statement on Friday. 

Domestic oil firms announced another round of price increases this week- the largest yet since the start of the year. Gasoline rose P7.1 per liter; diesel jumped P13.15 per liter and kerosene increased by P10.5 per liter.

CHR welcomes fuel subsidy for affected sectors

The government has begun rolling out P6,500 worth of fuel subsidies to over 377,000 members of the transport sector- a move which the Commission on Human Rights (CHR) welcomed. 

"The Commission recognizes the effort of the government to cushion the transportation sector from the impact of the huge increase in oil price. We also note the intention of the government to control inflation and to help keep the fare price at bay through the fuel subsidies to," CHR spokesperson Jacqueline Ann de Guia said in a statement shared with reporters over email.

De Guia also urged the government to prepare a long-term plan to address the impact of the fuel price crisis to impoverished households. 

The State earlier committed to double the total amount of two fuel subsidy programs- the Pantawid Pasada and the fuel discount program for farmers and fisherfolk- to P6.1 billion from the previous P3 billion in a bid to help affected sectors cope with the rising fuel prices.

READ: DOE: Fuel subsidies for public transport, agriculture raised to P6.1B

There have been calls from several senators and groups to suspend the collection of fuel excise taxes, but the Finance department said it is against such a move as it will only cut into the government's revenue collection and increase its borrowings. 

Under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, the excise tax for gasoline currently at P10 per liter, P6 per liter for diesel, and P5 per liter for kerosene.