It can be guesstimated that the total additional profits generated by the oil firms from overpricing gasoline and diesel is about P142.50 million a day. Of this amount, P17.10 million went to government in the form of the 12 percent value-added tax (VAT).
Remembering the oil pipe leak that occurred in 2010, which also caused sufferings on the coastal villages in Cavite, the newly-formed group, the Close Petron Depot Movement (CPDM), said the Petron oil depot poses a “constant threat to the lives of fisherfolk and urban poor.”
“A study published in the IAMURE International Journal on Marine Ecology estimated that the damage to the affected ecosystems and the fisheries sector may last for up to two generations. Petron is claiming the situation in Cavite is under control, but coral reefs have reportedly been smothered by oil sludge, and reported fish and shellfish kills mean the oil slick has also affected the functions of marine species.” – Kalikasan PNE
Read also: Petron should fast track clean up, pay compensation for oil spill – fisherfolk group
"Not a single centavo of taxpayers money should be spent for the clean up. Petron and its accomplice in the crime – the owners and operators of MV Makisig – should pay the cost of the cleanup and prepare for compensation claims to be asked by affected fishermen and residents.”
“It’s as if the oil companies just took a break (from hiking prices) in the run-up to the elections to give the Malacañang candidates a chance to prettify themselves, especially since Noynoy was personally campaigning for the administration slate.” – Piston
By BENJIE OLIVEROS
Giant oil companies, banks and investment houses have invented other blatant ways of pushing up oil prices, aside from monopoly pricing and speculative trading in oil futures.
By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO Bulatlat.com MANILA - Small fisherfolk in several coastal towns of Cavite expressed their support to the oil and production subsidy proposed by the militant fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas...
By MARYA SALAMAT Bulatlat.com MANILA -- The impending transport strike was not discussed in the recent dialogue with President Aquino, but San Mateo said Aquino has “diplomatically” threatened them against pushing through with the strike, as the president...
MEDIA RELEASE Aug 17, 2011 MANILA -- “It is revolting how the oil cartel, in connivance with the Aquino regime, continues to boost their already-huge profits out of workers’ and people’s misery over the overpricing and skyrocketing prices of petroleum products.”...
By MARYA SALAMAT
“It is well within the capacity of the Big Three oil companies to implement a significant rollback as their profits have steadily increased in recent years. It is simply revolting for us poor people to see the Big Three’s profits soar as oil prices rise unabated while we suffer from poverty and hunger.” – KMU
By MARYA SALAMAT
Comparing the local oil prices to that in other countries in the past years, Piston said the local pump prices have risen far more than the amount necessitated by price movements abroad and the peso-dollar exchange rate. The transport group continues to accuse the oil companies of overpricing oil products by “an average at least of P7.50 ($0.17) per liter.”
Pamalakaya clarified that the re-channeling of Aquino’s audit free pork barrel is an immediate measure to provide relief to sectors affected by the oil price spike. By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO Bulatlat.com Use the president’s pork barrel to cushion the impact of oil...
By ARNOLD PADILLA
Malacañang is threatening to reimpose an oil price control if oil companies will not follow the conditions outlined by Mrs. Arroyo. Government, however, has given up the high ground with its lifting of EO 839 and continued adherence to the discredited deregulation policy.
By MARYA SALAMAT
Despite its limitations, the oil-price caps have irked Big Business and their think tanks and they have been lobbying to have it lifted. Fearing EO 839 could set a dangerous precedent to its business, Shell even filed a case in court against Arroyo’s order. But consumers and critics say that if Arroyo is really sincere in protecting consumers, she should use her power to have the Oil Deregulation Law repealed.
By ARNOLD PADILLA
To a certain degree, Executive Order 839 questioned the lies long peddled by the oil companies and staunch defenders of neoliberalism about neoliberal free market economics. If left unchallenged, EO 839 could become a precedent in policy making: that the government, in the name of public good and welfare, could take decisive action against abusive corporations.
By BENJIE OLIVEROS Analysis Bulatlat.com MANILA -- When President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo issued Executive Order No. 839 on October 23 ordering oil companies to roll back pump prices in areas affected by typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng to October 15 levels, the Big Three...
By ARNOLD PADILLA
While it is supposed to be based on the Oil Deregulation Law, the executive order mandating the recent price rollback in effect puts into question the wisdom of oil deregulation. Moreover, the oil companies have found a way to offset whatever “losses” they would incur in Luzon due to the EO: by overpricing in the Visayas and Mindanao.
By MARYA SALAMAT
While the government bears down on small businesses and producers, warning them against profiteering in the wake of typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, it has allowed Shell, Caltex and Petron to increase oil prices at will.
By ARNOLD PADILLA
No matter how oil firms deny the allegations that they are overcharging the consumers, the widespread public perception that oil companies are abusive and profit-hungry will remain. This will be the case as long as the oil industry is deregulated and oil companies are allowed to automatically increase their prices and at the same time not compelled to publicly divulge how they compute their price adjustments.
Public-transport drivers and operators in several urban areas across the country – including, for the first time, Makati City – denounce the measly oil-price rollbacks by the Big Three oil companies, as well as their “manipulation” of the prices of oil and gas products, such as LPG, to the detriment of unorganized and ordinary consumers.
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