MANILA – Labor activists have criticized the Department of Trade and Industry for its total failure to implement substantial price-cuts on basic commodities as the decrease in the prices of petroleum products seemed to have lost steam after dropping to its lowest levels in five and a half years.
Citing news accounts over the weekend that reported that industry players are expecting a P2 increase per liter in pump prices this week after the the Dubai crude, which is Asian market’s benchmark, marked a 14% cost increase to $52 per barrel from $45.50 per barrel on average last month.
“Hindi pa man kami nakikinabang sa pagbaba ng presyo ng langis mula pa nung isang taon ay magtataas na ulit,” said Gie Relova of the Bukluran ng Manggagawang Pilipino (BMP).
Relova called the DTI “toothless” for what he claimed was gross negligence of its mandate to protect consumers, as proof of its abandonment and bias towards manufacturers and traders despite the huge drop in prices of petroleum products since the late last year.
As of February 3, the Energy department website posted that on average, gasoline retail prices stood at P37.60 per liter, this after a 60% drop in oil prices in the international market since June of last year.
“It is inexcusable that the DTI could only boast of a mere P0.35 centavo to P1.75 decrease in the retail prices of milk, sardines, coffee, noodles and soap detergents when the effects of the oil price cut should have been universal since all industries rely on oil for their products to reach the marketplace,” Relova claimed.
He explained that: “Petroleum being an essential commodity that bears a significant weight on the production costs of all other products has been significantly reduced and is on the verge of increasing again and yet the DTI is contented with a mediocre 30 centavo cut in only a number of products.”
Relova described the minuscule price decreases as “crumbs falling from the grand banquet of the lords of commerce and industry only to be taken back at the first instance of market instability”.
He said they lamented that despite the price drop of petroleum products, only jeepney fares were rolled back, insisting that airfare, passenger ship and train fares should have also been significantly reduced.
They clamored that workers and the poor are in dire need of an economic relief more than ever since their wages have remain dormant and deprived of basic social services. “With the increase of the LRT (Light Railway Transit) and MRT (Metro Rail Transit) fares, increases in SSS (Social Security System) and Philhealth (Philippine Health Insurance) contributions last year, we are violently being pushed down below the poverty line.”
Relova likewise called out on the officials of the Energy departments to closely monitor abusive oil and gas corporations as well as retailers who are too eager to hike pump-prices as the market remains jittery and prices volatile.
“This gross ineptitude of the Aquino government only goes on to show that its rabid pursuit of neo-liberal policies, not only the deregulation of the oil industry but of the entire economy has legitimized the place of private sector profit over and above interests of the poor majority,” he said. (Mindanao Examiner)
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