Fishers’ group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) on Tuesday, Oct. 26, urged the government to compel oil companies to disclose their process of domestic oil pricing amid the series as oil price hikes.
“In the name of transparency and the best interest of the public, we dare the Duterte government to compel the big-time oil cartels to reveal their prices determination and allow the public to scrutinize their practices of jacking up of oil prices and other forms of pricing manipulation,” Fernando Hicap, Pamalakaya national chairperson, said in a statement.
The fishers’ group dared the Duterte government to issue an executive order asking for transparency to oil companies and impose a price cap on all petroleum products.
“It would only take less than a day for the government to issue an executive order demanding oil companies to specify in details their process of price increases and impose a price freeze,” said Hicap.
“All it takes is Mr. Duterte’s strong political will to fortify the public’s interests against corporate exploitation and oil monopoly,” he added.
In its earlier statement, Pamalakaya reported that the cost of production for small fisherfolk has swelled to P180 per fishing operation, or a total of P720 additional fuel cost for a week of four fishing trips.
As a result, the average income of a small fisherfolk has “drastically dropped to P120 from P300 per fishing trip due to consecutive oil price hikes,” it noted.
“Sa loob ng isang linggo, P480 o katumbas ng P120 kada araw na lamang ang kinikita ng isang maliit na mangingisda dahil sa tuluy-tuloy na pagtaas ng presyo ng langis (In a week, a small fisherman earns only P480 or equivalent to P120 per day due to the continuous increase in oil prices),” Hicap said.
“Abot langit ang pagsirit ng gastos namin sa produksyon habang ang kita ay patuloy ang pagdausdos (Our production costs are skyrocketing as revenue continues to slide),” he added.