Passengers from Tabunok, Talisay City rush to board a PUJ in this photo taken during a Piston-led protest on Feb. 27, 2017. This time, Piston says its not joining the demand for a fare hike.
AMID FUEL PRICE INCREASE
Following the series of oil price hikes being implemented by petroleum companies, transport groups in Cebu are pushing anew for an increase in the minimum fare of public utility jeepneys (PUJs).
A fare hike is necessary, according to the National Confederation of Transport Workers Union (NCTU), for drivers to cope with the higher cost of petroleum products.
“Basin mo abot sa point nga ang mga driver kay mo undang na lang ug pamasahero kay mahal na kaayo ang gasolina. Nityabaw na gyud ang mga driver,” said NCTU Vice President Romeo Armamento.
(It might come to a point where drivers would stop plying their routes because gasoline is too expensive. Drivers are now raising a howl over this)
Armamento cited as an example one of his PUJ units plying the Mandaue City to Cebu City route, which used to consume P600 worth of fuel a day.
But now, the PUJ driver would need to spend P900 a day for fuel, which means that the driver’s take home pay has lessened by P300.
He said NCTU will be meeting next week to discuss possible ways on how to cope with the problem.
The group has around 2,000 member drivers and operators plying routes in Mandaue City, Cebu City, Talisay City, Lapu-Lapu City and in the towns of Liloan, Compostela, and Minglanilla among others.
The Basak Lapu-Lapu City Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association (Balacjoda), a member of the NCTU, has already filed a petition asking for a P12 increase in the minimum fare for PUJs in the Visayas last January before the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) 7.
Support
The Balacjoda’s petition has the support of another transport group, the Cebu Integrated Transport Cooperative (Citrasco).
Ryan Benjamin Yu, Citrasco chairman, said they were supposed to also file a separate petition earlier this year but it didn’t push through.
“Dako kaayo ni ug epekto kay nagsunod-sunod ang increase. I am about to call ang atong kauban nga transport group to follow up on updates sa ilang petition (The successive fuel increase has tremendous effect on us. I’m about to call our fellow transport groups to follow up on updates on their petition). We will support it,” he said.
Yu said there has been no notice for any hearing on the petition. In the previous months, he said it was difficult to justify the petition as there were also instances of oil price rollbacks. But now, he said it is high time to push for the fare increase again.
Citrasco has about 1,000 PUJs, mostly operating in Cebu City. Around 20 to 30 percent of its members are also operating in the cities of Mandaue and Talisay.
Once a hearing for the fare hike petition is set by the LTFRB, Yu said they will be participating and will submit a manifestation or rejoinder supporting the petition. In the meantime, he said they will just have to make do.
“There’s nothing we can do but to continue operating. Hinugtanay na lang sa bakus (We are tightening our belts) on the part of the drivers para maka-save (so they can save),” he said.
Right now, he said some members are already having problems reaching their payments for their unit rentals with problems not just on expensive fuel but also on traffic congestion.
The increases
Starting at 6 a.m. yesterday, May 22, oil companies imposed the biggest price increase for petroleum products this year.
Gasoline increased by P1.60 per liter, diesel increased by P1.15 per liter, while kerosene increased by P1 per liter.
Among the companies that have announced price hikes are Pilipinas Shell, Petron Corp., PTT Philippines, Total Philippines, Chevron Philippines, and Flying V Diesel.
According to the Department of Energy (DOE), the successive oil price hikes are mainly due to the supply disruption in the Middle East where oil companies import petroleum products.
Lawyer Rino Abad, director of the DOE oil industry management bureau, told Cebu Daily News in a phone interview that US sanctions on Iran and the presidential election concerns in Venezuela, both petroleum product sources, have pushed oil prices to rise.
“Iran is the third major oil producer of OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries). Iran produces 32.10 million barrels of crude oil for a whole year. If there are apprehensions about the supply side, the natural effect is contract prices increase,” he explained.
On the other hand, he said supply from Venezuela, which usually produces 2.3 million barrels a day, has decreased to 1.5 million barrels a day due to economic and political issues in the country.
Based on DOE records, there have been a total of 13 oil price increases and five decreases from January to May 16 this year.
For gasoline, increases totaled P8.20 while decreases were at P3.10, resulting to a net increase of 5.10 per liter.
For diesel, net increase was at P6.15 per liter while for kerosene, it was at P5.85 per liter.
Train effect
On top of these increases due to world market prices and supply woes, the higher excise taxes on petroleum products under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (Train) law is also added.
For gasoline, it was P2.97 per liter while for diesel was at P2.80 per liter.
Under Section 5 of the Republic Act 10963 or the Train law, the scheduled increase in the excise tax on fuel can be suspended only when the average price of Dubai crude oil based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) for three months prior to the scheduled increase of the month reaches or exceeds US$80 per barrel.
But according to the DOE, this has not been reached yet.
DOE data showed that peak prices of Dubai Crude was at $68.05 in January, $67.06 in February, $65.85 in March, $71.26 in April and $77.05 in May.