BAGUIO CITY – Responding to complaints by thousands of motorists, the House of Representatives will conduct a congressional inquiry into reports of unabated overpricing of fuel prices in Northern Luzon.
Baguio City Rep. Mark Go filed House Resolution No. 853 calling on the House Committee on Energy to lead the investigation of the alleged disparity of prices of fuel products in Baguio City, especially during the holidays.
“The average gasoline prices for the Northern Luzon area is now R44 per liter. In contrast, gasoline prices in Baguio City remain high by as much as R5 to R13 per liter since November last year,” said Go.
According to Go, despite the reduction of fuel prices that was announced by oil companies, pump prices of fuel products remained high in Baguio City.
Asked to explain, Petron maintained that the significant price differences between adjacent municipalities and provinces is primarily driven by the number of competing retail outlets and the level of discounting.
On the other hand, Chevron, another big oil firm, explained that the company leaves that decision to their stations.
Go said the explanations given by the two oil firms raised more questions than answers as the responses “only exposes the fact that under the current pricing regime, the pump prices are apparently subject to manipulation by the market players.” (BEN R. ROSARIO)