Jeepney fares up 50¢ as oil firms hike prices anew
Consumers will again bear the brunt of higher oil prices as five petroleum firms jacked up pump prices yesterday and the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) approved an increase of 50 centavos in jeepney fares for the first four kilometers in Metro Manila and Regions 2, 3, 4 and 5, raising the minimum fare to P8.50.
The latest oil price increase comes on the heels of last week’s pause in price markups.
“Big three” firms Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum and Chevron Philippines, along with independent players Total Philippines and Eastern Petro- leum, added 70 centavos per liter for premium gasoline.
All five firms increased pump prices of regular gasoline, diesel and kerosene by 60
centavos per liter.
Shell said the adjustment was implemented “to reflect the increase in international product prices.”
Eastern Petroleum said it is passing on to consumers the resulting increase in world prices.
Dubai crude, the benchmark for prices in Asia, closed at $124.30 per barrel on March 14 before easing to $ 122.25 per barrel last March 16. Last Friday’s price is cheaper than the $ 123.65 per barrel on Mar. 9.
International oil prices remain high given continued tensions over the nuclear program of oil producer Iran.
Since the start of the year, there have already been 10 oil price increases as against three price reductions.
As of Mar. 13, net increase stood at P5.85 per liter for gasoline and P3.20 per liter for diesel, data from the Department of Energy ( DOE) showed. There were no price adjustments last week.
For its part, the DOE said the reloading of the Pantawid Pasada cards is ongoing.
“The DOE has reloaded Pantawid Pasada cardholders whose jeepneys’ plate numbers end with 3, 4 and 5,” the department said in a statement yesterday.
Cardholders can now use their P1,200 credits in participating gas stations nationwide.
The DOE earlier completed the reloading of cards for jeepneys whose plates end in numbers 0, 1 and 2 and said that it will reload the cards of the remaining beneficiaries in the coming days.
The Pantawid Pasada Program, which started in May last year, is a P120- million government program to cushion the impact of high fuel prices on the public transport sector.
No big impact on inflation rate
The Department of Transportation and Communications (DOTC) said the country’s inflation rate is not seen to go beyond the government’s target for the year despite the P0.50 hike in jeepney fares which will take effect today (Wednesday).
“In terms of inflation, there may be some inflationary influence (from jeepney fare hike) but it is not expected to be heavy or to put much pressure on prices,” DOTC Secretary Manuel Roxas II said in a press conference yesterday.
Data from the National Statistics Office showed that the country’s inflation rate eased to 2.7 percent in February, the lowest annual rate since September 2009.
The inflation rate in January was recorded at a faster four percent.
The year-to-date inflation rate is at 3.3 percent, still within the three to five percent target for the year.
In deciding on the approval of the adjustment of the jeepney fares, Roxas said the government took into account the increase in fuel prices as well as prices of other goods such as food and car parts that drivers usually spend for.
He added that the country’s inflation rate is expected to remain within the government’s three to five percent target.
The P0.50 adjustment, meanwhile, brings the minimum jeepney fare of Regions 6,7,8, 9 and 10 to P8. Those in Region 1 will have no provisional increase since they have an existing P8.50 authorized minimum fare. Other regions with no pending petition shall have no fare adjustment.
The LTFRB’S ruling was based on the petition filed by transport groups for a fare hike of P2 from the existing P8 minimum fare.
The transport groups were also asking for an increase of P0.35 from the existing P1.40 rate for every succeeding kilometer. The provisional fare hike plea was included in the petition.
The petitioners included the groups Fejodap, Altodap, Ltop, Acto and PasangMasda.
“While the Board recognizes the plight of the Filipino people in this time of crisis, it cannot be insensitive to the present clamor of stakeholders in public land transportation services for necessary action for fare rates,” stated the resolution signed by chairman Jaime Jacob and board member Julius Garcia.
“Thus, the Board had judiciously balanced the rights of the riding public who are mostly dependent on the public transport system visà-vis the right of grantees of Certificates of Public Convenience to a reasonable return of investment,” it stated.
Board member Manuel Iway presented a dissenting opinion and said the approval of the provisional fare hike was “quite unjustified and unnecessary.”
“Considering how fare hikes ultimately burden the people in this country, it behooves the petitioners to back their claims with solid evidence. As petitioners have not presented any proof of their self- serving claim by the time this provisional fare increase was granted, it is clear such grant is unjustified,” Iway said.
Roxas said that once diesel prices go down, jeepney fares would also be returning to its previous levels.
He added that hiking fares at the Metro Rail Transit ( MRT) and the Light Rail Transit ( LRT) Lines 1 and 2 was not a priority at the moment.
However, he said that passengers should be warned that government funds being allotted to subsidize the operations of the MRT and LRT lines, was “not inexhaustible” and there will be a time when the DOTC will finally have to hike fares.
The national government extends a subsidy of some P7 billion to the MRT, and an equal amount to the LRT Lines 1 and 2.
A call for wage hike
Because of the fare increase, the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) asked the Wage Boards to speed up the approval of its petition for a P90 increase in workers’ daily salary.
In a statement, TUCP president Democrito Mendoza said the fare hike is enough evidence for the regional tripartite wages and productivity boards to grant salary adjustments.
“The new round of fare increase in public utility jeepneys will indeed cause a significant further erosion of the purchasing power of the peso predicted since December 2011 to be at 42 percent and will trigger increases of basic commodities directly impacting millions of waged workers and their families,” he said.
Mendoza added that the new fare increase “further justifies that there is an extraordinary situation and supervening events that merit an across-the-board increase of P90 in daily basic pay among workers in Metro Manila.”
However, the petition cannot be entertained before May 26 or the expiration of the one- year ban between issuances of wage orders, unless there is an established “supervening condition.”
Mendoza maintained that there is now sufficient basis for adjusting the salaries of workers to enable them to live a decent life.
Gabriela: P-noy courting public outrage
Meanwhile, Gabriela partylist Rep. Luzviminda Ilagan said President Aquino is courting public outrage and fueling discontent with his “adamant refusal” to remove the 12 percent value-added tax (VAT) on petroleum products to reduce the rapidly rising fuel prices.
Ilagan said Aquino should not test the patience of the people by not taking decisive steps to temper increases in pump prices.
“It is an outrage that President Aquino chooses not to heed the poor Filipinos’ clamor for relief from high prices of oil and basic commodities when more and more families are going hungry. This is undeniable proof of the anti-poor character of this administration,” she said.
She also warned that as the protest form “Noynoying” snowballs, it can and will evolve to more serious displays of public outrage even as Malacañang continues to downplay its impact with claims of statistics that supposedly show economic gains.
“Statistics do not feed hungry stomachs. Unrest is as viral as the poverty and hunger that multiplies exponentially among Filipino families for as long as President Aquino continues to refuse to address the problem of rising prices of oil and basic commodities head on,” she said.
The lawmaker also criticized the Aquino government’s insistence on the continued implementation of its Pantawid Pasada transport subsidy program despite its marked failure demonstrated by incessant petitions for fare hikes.