ANGELES CITY – Warning of rise in the prices of basic commodities following the upsurge of fuel prices earlier this week, the Anakpawis partylist called for protest actions against the Oil Deregulation Law.
“Oil Deregulation Law plus TRAIN Law, plus Rice Liberalization Law, are the Duterte regime’s step-bystep measures of throwing poor Filipinos into a worse state of poverty and hunger,” Anakpawis said in a statement yesterday.
Anakpawis blamed the government’s “neoliberal submission to the Republic Act 8479 Oil Deregulation Law and inutility against incessant increases in oil products.”
“Instead of working to cushion the impact of oil price hikes on Filipino poor sectors, the Duterte government via its Department of Energy took the task of ‘media relations’ for the big foreign monopoly firms, blaming the move on the incidents in the Middle East, as if it is accurate and not a result of speculation to guarantee super-profits,” Anakpawis said in a statement.
Ariel Casilao, former Anakpawis partylist representative and now national vice-chairperson of the Unyon ng Manggagawa sa Agrikultura (UMA), noted the latest fuel price hike of “P2.35 per liter for gas and P1.80 for diesel, the aggregate were at P4.20 per liter and P2.65, for gas and diesel respectively, within a week.”
“Since January to September 24, aggregate oil price hike now stands at P13.59 per liter for gasoline, P8 per liter for diesel and P4.77 per liter for kerosene,” he said.
“The oil price hikes will certainly trigger price shocks on basic goods and services, and at the end, poor sectors, workers and peasants, will be the most vulnerable. On this concern, the Duterte government is useless,” he warned.
Casilao also noted that “manufactures are now pushing to increase the prices of coffee, sardines and noodles, by as much as P1.50, and the Department of Trade and Industry is set to release a revised list of suggested retail prices.”
“Previously, minimum fare for jeepney increased from P9 to P11, and from P8 to P10. Retail prices of rice have remained higher than prior 2018 levels, at least P30 per kilo,” he also said.
