Bayan to Aquino: “Stop playing Pontius Pilate in the oil price increases!”

April 20, 2011
PRESS RELEASE


Bayan to Aquino: “Stop playing Pontius Pilate in the oil price increases!”

DAVAO CITY – “Stop playing Pontius Pilate in the oil price increases! The people have suffered enough!” This was Bagong Alyansang Makabayan-Southern Mindanao Region (Bayan-SMR)’s lenten message to President Benigno Aquino III in the wake of another round of oil price increase.

Pump price of gasoline in Davao City last January was at P49. Now, it is closed to P59, or an increase by P10 in the last four months after it spiked anew, for the 13th time, yesterday.The mark up for diesel pump prices yesterday was 25 cents, and for gasoline, 60 cents.

Energy officials have put the blame on the changes of prices of oil in the global market amid talks of a possible shortage. “But, we all know, and even the President knows, that these are mere speculations. His act of condoning these increases is a betrayal to the Filipino people, betrayal to his messianic promise of bringing change in the lives of the Filipino people,” Franchie Buhayan, secretary general of Bayan-SMR said.

Buhayan cited that there is also no reason to believe that the unrest in Libya, as energy officials of the Aquino administration would like Filipinos to believe, will impair the Philippine’s oil supply since Libya accounts only 2% of the Philippines’ oil requirements.

She said, even Saudi Arabia, where much of the country’s oil is sourced, has assured enough supply of oil. Even the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) have declared adequate spare capacity and inventory.

Speculations, Buhayan pointed out, are what these big oil companies in the country, like Petron, Shell and Chevron, feed on to amass big profits, a thing they were able to easily do since the Oil Deregulation Law was passed in 1996.

“Such speculations always precede overpricing schemes by these companies which gobble up millions of additional revenues every day, such as the P124.49 million that Petron, which controls 38% of the supply of oil in the Philippine market, gets as additional profits in a day; Shell, which holds 28% of the market share at an additional P91.41 million per day, and Chevron, which controls 12%, an additional P40.66 million each day,” she added.

On top of these overpricing schemes, Buhayan said the government also exacts 12% on the prices of petroleum products that consumers pay through Value Added Tax (VAT). VAT on petroleum products bleeds P44 million from Filipinos every day.

Buhayan said Aquino has choices to stop these oil companies from bleeding more Filipinos. One is by scrapping the 12% VAT; by invoking the Price Control Act, or junking of the Oil Deregulation Law. “But apparently, President Aquino chose to side with these profit-driven beasts,” Buhayan said.

Adding fury to the fire, she added, is Aquino’s responses to the people’s growing clamor against continuing price hikes and calls for substantial wages.

On the day oil prices increased the 12th time last April 12, Aquino warned drivers of being punished if they conduct protests.


Buhayan said at the rate the prices are increasing, a public utility jeepney (PUJ) driver which requires an average of 15-20 liters a day will need P150-P200 more to cope with the increase.

“This means that the fuel subsidy for every PUJ and tricycle driver announced by President Aquino on the day of the transport strike end of March which amounts only to P1,050 will last for only a week,” she said

The government has announced distribution of the subsidy through the so-called smart cards starting May 1. “But even then, there is no assurance that PUJ and tricycle drivers will get their share of the insignificant subsidy since beneficiaries will have to be determined yet by the franchise owners,” she said.

“It is also suspicious why the Aquino government required smart card holders to refuel only at Petron, Caltex or Shell pump stations. If this is true, then, the subsidy is not really meant to help the drivers, but to keep money coming in for the Big 3 oil cartel,” added Buhayan.###




FOR REFERENCE:

FRANCHIE BUHAYAN
Secretary General
BAYAN-SMR
Mobile Number: 09106671009