Just several days before Christmas and Filipino consumers will still need to fork out more cash for their fuel expenses this week as diesel prices will be up by P0.85 per liter; and diesel by P0.75 per liter.
The oil firms also sent notices that the price of kerosene will go higher by P0.80 per liter, as advised by the oil companies given the escalating prices in the world market.
As of this writing, the oil firms that already sent notices on their price hikes had been Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation, Seaoil, PetroGazz and Cleanfuel effective Tuesday (December 22); while the rest of their industry-competitors are anticipated to follow.
Despite the series of hikes in fuel prices, it is apparent that Filipino motorists are increasingly on the road these days either due to Christmas rush shopping; or for the ending salvo in the workloads prior to the holidays.
For next year, the forecast of experts will be continuing wave of price upticks because of wider re-opening of most economies all over the world; and with the Covid-19 vaccine now accessible in many countries, travel is also seen perked up by 2021.
It had been aviation fuel sales that plummeted the most this year because of the enforced restriction in the movement of people, while the Covid-19 pandemic stalled businesses and most human activities globally.
In the Philippines, in particular, it was not only the pandemic that distressed Filipino consumers, but also the string of natural calamities that pummeled the country, especially in October and November this year.
And while ‘price freeze’ could be imposed for certain products – primarily kerosene and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in calamity-barreled areas, it was observed by advocacy group Laban Konsyumer Inc. (LKI) that this has not been strictly followed by some players in several jurisdictions.
This was formally brought up by LKI President Victorio Mario Dimagiba to the attention of the Department of Energy (DOE), but he has not gotten official response yet from the agency.
Dimagiba primarily sought that if the DOE, upon investigation and findings will establish any violation of Presidential Proclamation 1051, “we pray that appropriate fines be imposed on the errant oil companies and rollback the prices of kerosene and LPG for such number of days of violation.”
Nevertheless, DOE-Oil Industry Management Bureau (OIMB) Director Rino Abad indicated that based on their field investigation of 50 gasoline stations and 24 LPG outlets in the flood-stricken areas of Marikina, Rizal and Valenzuela last November, they have not found any price freeze violation of the industry players.
“In that case, in what LKI said, we are actually interested in knowing exactly what facilities it was referring to that have increased prices. But in our actual inspections, there not been a single case that we have seen increasing,” the energy official stressed.