After the punishing series of oil price hikes last month, gasoline and diesel prices will go down by an average of P0.65 and P0.35 per liter, respectively, this week.
Independent player Phoenix Petroleum Philippines Inc. started the price rollbacks effective 6 a.m. Saturday.
The Dennis Uy-led firm’s price adjustment is anticipated to be followed by other industry players – with price reduction notices anticipated the rest of the weekend until Tuesday, the Chinese New Year holiday in the country.
Filipino consumers were practically squeezed out of their fuel budgets last January with roughly a month’s worth of price increases. They also had to shoulder additional costs courtesy of the second tranche excise taxes adjustments
under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act of the Duterte administration.
The price rollback will partly be a financial respite for consumers. However, they would still need to shell out additional cash as prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas increased.
Eastern Petroleum Corp. Saturday announced a price hike in its EC Gas LPG brand totaling P37.40 or P3.40 per kilogram for the 11-kilogram standard cylinder which households have been purchasing for their cooking needs.
Meanwhile, on the TRAIN excise tax adjustments, the Department of Energy, following the issuance of show-cause orders on some oil companies, is being nudged to show that it can get tough against industry players who breached rules on the enforcement of the TRAIN Law.
However, when asked if the DoE would summon the oil firms which implemented early tax adjustments, Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi said there might be no need to go to that extent. “I don’t like to pre-empt things because we might be able to clarify (these concerns) later on…so as not to cause unnecessary stress on anybody’s part, we just want to be very objective,” the Energy chief said.
The DoE just required the oil companies apprehended on early tax adjustments to submit a written explanation and report on why increased taxes ahead of the schedule anticipated by the department.
The government was latching on to the 15 to 30 days of product inventory of the oil companies, and expected the implementation of higher taxes by at least mid-January. However, hundreds of gasoline stations increased the tax as early as Jan. 2. (Myrna M. Velasco)