MILITANT transport organizations in the Bicol region are poised to stage a well-organized inter-province exploratory talk leading to the holding of a nationwide ‘Welga ng Bayan’ once pump prices of fuel and other petroleum products hit P70 a liter.

        Pio Samonte, president of the 700-strong Naga City Jeepney Transport Federation, disclosed that transport leaders in the region are taking a close watch on the unabated skyrocketing of fuel prices.

        Petroleum products have jacked up its prices 18 times since January, this year, which is currently pegged at P55.82 for diesel; P57.85, kerosene and P60.56 for gasoline a liter, inclusive of EVAT.

        Samonte said along with other big transport groups in Camarines Sur and Camarines Norte, the Albay-based Pinag-isang Samahang Transportasyong Organisasyon Nationwide (PISTON), Legazpi-based Concerned Operators and Drivers Regionwide (CONDOR) and the Sorsogon-based City Integrated Transport Organization led by Fernando Bobis are now engaging in active networking with small and big transport groups for an imminent Welga ng Bayan.

        The Welga ng Bayan will press for the immediate abolition of oil deregulation law and the scrapping of 12-percent expanded value-added tax on pump prices of gasoline and other petroleum products.

        As of press time, the transport sector in the city has not yet made any pronouncement on the specific date of the Welga ng Bayan.

        P90-B EVAT

        Value-added tax is a sales tax levied on the sale of goods and services and on the imports of goods into the country. It is an indirect tax passes on to the buyer, from which the government, according to reports by the IBON Foundation, was able to accumulate P80-billion to P90-billion pesos in the past few months

        Shell petroleum dealer Dr. Domingo Yu lamented the connivance between the oil firms and the administration of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo that makes the life of the Filipino people even more miserable with the EVAT.

        He also assailed Arroyo and Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes for their weak leadership in resolving the matter.

        Yu said last month he was billed more than P550,179.84 for petroleum products that costs only P491, 230.00 because of the exorbitant sales tax.

        Malacanang, however, maintained that suspension of the 12-percent expanded value-added tax on oil products would mean reduced funding for the government’s pro-poor programs.

        But transport leaders belonging to the Naga City Jeepney Transport Federation said scrapping the E-VAT on oil products would increase the people’s purchasing power and at the same time make the country’s economy more dynamic.

        “While the Big Three oil firms in the Philippines claim losses due to under-recoveries, their mother companies abroad continue to report record billions in profits. Royal Dutch Shell, the mother company of Pilipinas Shell, posted net income of $27.6 billion in 2007, making it the second most profitable company in the world next to oil giant Exxon Mobil. During the same year, Pilipinas Shell recorded profits of P4.12 billion,” a statement from the Ibon Foundation said

        It further said that Chevron, mother unit of Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex), reported net income of $18.7 billion in 2007, 9% higher than in 2006 and enough to rank it the eighth most profitable company in the world. Its local unit in the country reported P2.75 billion in profits in 2007

        Petron, which is co-owned by the Philippine government and Saudi Aramco, recorded profits of P5.94 billion in 2007. Its net income has been progressively increasing in the last three years, posting P5.76 billion in 2006 and P3.42 billion in 2005. Aramco, unlike Shell and Chevron, is an unlisted company that is not obliged to report its financial books, but its profits in 2007 are likely to have reached $15 billion.

        Hesitant protesters

        Although admitting that certain kinks have made the transport industry in Bicol less active in joining nationwide Welga ng Bayan, the mood would be different if pump prices of fuel hit P70 a liter, a source said.

        Transport leaders were apprehensive that the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) may resort to getting back on transport leaders who would be involved in the nationwide protest. “LTFRB can disapprove our application for a franchise or have our franchises cancelled,” the source who is a PUV operator said.

        The same source cited several incidents in 2007 when some of the leaders, after they staged a transport strike, were warned by the LTFRB about corresponding consequences for their active participation in similar mass actions. He did not elaborate.

        Deregulation failed

        IBON Facts and Figures said oil prices have increased by an average of 50% over the past year, highlighting the failure of oil deregulation in bringing down petroleum prices.

        It said between June 2007 and June 2008, average pump prices of unleaded gasoline and diesel have increased by 47% and 52%, respectively

        Further, since the start of deregulation in 1996, pump prices of unleaded gas have increased by 492 percent. Meanwhile, prices of diesel have increased by 607 percent

        Oil deregulation was supposed to ensure affordable and accessible petroleum products by breaking up the local oil cartel, allowing “market forces” to determine the real price of oil. Instead, it only gave Shell, Petron and Chevron (formerly Caltex), more room for speculation and dictate prices and price hikes.

        IBON estimates that as much as 47% to 54% of the pump price of petroleum products represent windfall profits for the oil firms.

        Yu said the effective way to break up the monopoly of oil firms over the local downstream oil sector and ensure affordable and accessible oil products is to revoke the oil deregulation law and give the government regulatory authority over the oil industry. 

        Government’s blunder

        Transport leader Rafael Duque of 1,240-strong Pinag-isang Samahang Tsuper ng Traysikel at Operators sa Naga (PISTTON) shared his sentiments with Yu, saying government’s policies on oil are not in conformity with the current economic situation that severely affect the livelihood of PUV drivers and operators.

        Jeepney operator Alberto Darilay deplored what he called destructive competition among jeepney operators and drivers over the diminishing number passengers due to fuel’s periodic price hike that spawn high prices of commodities, including fares.

        Trying to resolve the problem, the Naga City-based transport groups have requested the city government to relax some traffic regulations so that they could maximize loading of passengers in areas where they are otherwise not allowed to pick up passengers.

        Other initiatives that Naga transport groups are working on is the materialization of the P2 government subsidy or discount on fuel for PUVs, the implementation of the Volume Reduction Scheme or the reduction in the number of PUVs on the road and lessening the amount of boundary fee paid to PUV operators by as much as 30 to 40 percent.

        Not fuel alone

        PUV operators Val Magayanes and Evaristo Palomares bewailed how prices of jeepney spare parts went up consistently with the rising of fuel prices.

        They said prices of motor spare parts increased by more than 50 percent. They said tie-rod end alone that usually sold at P250.00 now costs P650.00; Goodyear tire that costs P2,400 – now, P4,000; release bearing, usually sold at P420, now P680; and overhauling gasket worth P1,400, now costs P2,200.

        Duque likewise assailed the government for its continued failure to check the soaring prices of motorcycle spare parts now hitting more than 50 percent compared to the prices three months ago.