According to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), there is “no physical shortage” of oil. So, what is happening then? As in the case of major oil price volatilities this century, excessive speculation in the oil derivatives markets is pushing up prices, not the disruptions in oil’s actual or physical trading.
Farmers and fisherfolk groups reiterated the need for aid as the incessant oil price hikes have significant impacts on their production and cost of living.
“Every oil price increase is an added burden to consumers, workers, farmers, and the poor. These price hikes have resulted in increased cost of production and lower income for farmers, fisherfolk, and transportation workers who have nothing to bring home to their families now.”
The increasing prices of staple commodities are making access to food even more difficult, even for vendors themselves.
A 20-passenger jeepney usually has a full tank capacity of 60 liters, which means that the driver is spending ?1,107 ($21.83) more to fill up his tank. That is equivalent to about 29 kilos of rice – or two weeks’ worth of the regular consumption of a five- to six-member household.
Overpriced gasoline and diesel, for instance, gave oil firms an estimated P38.47 billion (US$757.13 million) in additional income, of which P4.62 billion ($90.93 million) went to the government as value-added tax (VAT).
The Duterte regime may spin the narratives on the economy all they want. But all indicators show that the country is in a much worse shape today than when it took over in 2016.
Oil firms-imposed price adjustments are higher than what should be – by P 2.41 per liter for diesel and P4.76 per liter for gasoline, based on a DOE-recognized formula. The Big Three, a Duterte backer and other oil firms, rake in tens of millions of pesos daily from profiteering.
We can only cringe at the US-Saudi imperialist war machine’s audacity to make us believe that we are all hapless victims on the same side. The price of oil is controlled by the global oil cartel.
Looking at the local oil price movement from the start of the year up to May 15, the price adjustments in diesel may have been “excessive” by about P1.03 per liter and gasoline by P1.34 centavos per liter. This resulted in about P53.74 million additional collections every day from diesel and gasoline products for the oil companies. Of this amount, P6.45 million daily go to the Duterte government’s oil VAT collections (on top of its additional revenues from the TRAIN law’s oil excise taxes).
‘The hikes sprang from the oil companies’ “imagination and greed,” which the Oil Deregulation Law gives them license to use.’