Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) - September 4, 2018 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines —
Petroleum companies implemented today another round of price hikes across fuel
products even as world crude prices fell yesterday.
Gasoline and kerosene
prices were raised by P0.95 per liter and diesel by P1.20 per liter.
This is the fourth
consecutive week that gasoline prices were increased and the second successive
week for both diesel and kerosene.
Caltex, Eastern
Petroleum, Flying V, Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc., Pilipinas Shell
Petroleum Corp., PTT Philippines Corp., Seaoil Philippines Inc. and Total
Philippines Corp. implemented their respective price adjustments at 6 a.m.
Petron Corp., and
UniOil Petroleum Philippines Inc. have yet to announce their respective price
changes as of this writing.
During last week’s trading, crude prices rose heftily midweek on supply
concerns.
Reuters reported
international oil prices jumped because of supply disruptions from Iran and
Venezuela, as well as a reduction in US inventories.
The US sanctioned
supplies from Iran, the third biggest producer in Organization of Petroleum
Exporting Countries (OPEC).
Venezuela – also an
OPEC member – has reported a sharp drop in crude exports, Reuters said.
To help curb inflation,
Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo yesterday filed a bill that seeks to roll back and
return to zero the excise taxes on kerosene and diesel under the new tax reform
law.
Quimbo’s House Bill
8171 seeks to amend the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law
by automatically suspending the implementation of fuel excise tax hikes,
whenever inflation for a given quarter exceeds the government’s quarterly
target.
It has a counterpart
measure in the Senate. Senate Bill 1798, or the Bawas Presyo Bill, is
authored by Sen. Paolo Benigno Aquino IV of the Liberal Party.
“We recorded an
inflation of 5.7 percent in July, with August inflation expected to be at
around the same level. Clearly steps have to be taken to bring relief to our
people and shield them from future spikes in inflation,” Quimbo said.
Quimbo reiterated that
the imposition of excise tax on kerosene and diesel is “anti-poor” because
“more than 60 percent of the poorest households in the country depend on
kerosene for lighting and cooking.”
“Fishermen, PUVs and
small power utility groups in far-flung areas rely heavily on diesel. With this
bill, we are offering a realistic and much-needed safeguard for Filipinos,” he
added.
Co-authors of HB 8171
are Reps. Jorge Banal and Jose Christopher Belmonte of Quezon City, Gabriel
Bordado Jr. of Camarines Sur, Raul Daza of Northern Samar, Jocelyn Limkaichong
of Negros Oriental, and Josephine Ramirez-Sato of Occidental Mindoro.
“We are all in
agreement that we cannot allow ourselves to once again be caught flat-footed by
unforeseen spikes in inflation, particularly with further excise tax increases
scheduled for 2019 and 2020,” Quimbo said. – With Delon Porcalla
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