The government should scrap the Oil Deregulation Law instead of passing on the burden of surging fuel prices to drivers and commuters, the transportation group PISTON said.
PISTON National President Mody Floranda, quoted by GMA News, said the group is “calling on the government to maybe remove the Oil Deregulation Law because this causes the up and down movement of oil prices in the country.”
Floranda stressed that the P1 provisional fare increase could slightly help drivers, but it still did not make sense as a whole, especially since the increase in gasoline reached up to P19 per liter.
“Presently, when you have 200 passengers, that adds P200 to the driver’s earnings. If the driver previously took home P500, it now becomes P700,” Floranda further said, adding that effectively, this will help drivers and operators, but boundaries would also increase. Operators will say that vehicle spare parts increased. The driver and operator will have to share that P1.”
The transport group noted that the Oil Deregulation Law failed to deliver its original promise to lower fuel prices through unrestricted trade “and has since afforded oil companies the freedom to raise fuel prices without significant government oversight.”
Earlier, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) approved a P1 provisional increase in the minimum fare for public utility jeepneys (PUJs) effective Sunday, October 8.
The decision was reached following a hearing between the LTFRB, some transportation and commuter groups on the fare hike petitions filed amid rising fuel prices.