Groups refute Aquino government’s claim of helplessness in curbing oil price hikes

Groups refute Aquino government’s claim of helplessness in curbing oil price hikes

In Congress there are 14 proposals and three resolutions calling for the review or scrapping altogether of the Oil Deregulation Law and Value-Added Tax on oil products.
Sidebar: Aquino’s VAT windfall, defense of oil firms’ ‘greed’ questioned
By MARYA SALAMAT
Bulatlat.com

MANILA – After announcing that it would not increase pump prices during the week the nationally coordinated Peoples Protest against oil overpricing was held, oil companies went ahead with another price increase this week.

Price of petroleum products increased Tuesday by P.60 per liter of unleaded gas and P.70 ($0.02) per liter of gasoline and diesel. So far, it is the ninth round of oil price hike this year, despite massive unrest over the said hikes, noted the youth group Anakbayan in National Capital Region.

This week, different groups held protest actions in separate locations to lash out at the Aquino government’s “coddling of the oil cartel.” Last Monday, drivers’ group Piston and multi-sectoral alliance Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (BAYAN) picketed the offices of the energy department to pressure the government to curtail oil overpricing and act on oil price hikes.

Another transport group retraced the March 15 route of the Piston-led protest caravan, picketed the head offices of the big oil companies and aired the same calls shouted last March 15 about scrapping the Oil Deregulation Law and the Value-Added Tax on oil.

This Wednesday, as the Aquino government gave its provisional blessing for increasing transport fare by P0.50 ($0.01), youth groups and urban poor groups staged more protest actions against the oil price hike.

Members of urban poor group Kadamay marched to Mendiola Bridge (now Chino Roces Bridge) and urged President Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III to stop “noynoying” or doing nothing about price hikes.

“It is an outrage that Pres. Aquino chooses not to heed the clamor of poor Filipinos for relief from high prices of oil and basic commodities when more and more families are going hungry,” said Gabriela Women’s Partylist Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan.

The Gabriela solon criticized the Aquino government’s insistence on the continued implementation of its “Pantawid Pasada” transport subsidy program to jeepney drivers despite its marked failure. Rep. Ilagan pointed to the petitions for fare hikes as proof that Pantawid Pasada is a failure. “The fare hike petitions belie Malacañang’s claims that the transport subsidy program mitigates the impact of high prices of oil and petroleum products,” she said.

Aquino sleeping on calls to give people relief from oil overpricing

Contrary to what the officials and spokespersons of the Aquino government have been saying, they are not really without options in relieving the Filipino consumers of the increasingly high costs of oil products and its inflationary effects. In Congress there are 14 proposals and three resolutions calling for the review or scrapping altogether of the Oil Deregulation Law and Value-Added Tax on oil products..... MORE

Source:  Bulatlat.com

URL: http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/03/22/groups-refute-aquino-government%E2%80%99s-claim-of-helplessness-in-curbing-oil-price-hikes/