Tags: price increases

By INA ALLECO R. SILVERIO
From an initial P4 billion in 2006, the cost of expanding and improving the South Luzon Expressway jumped dramatically to P12.5 billion by last year. This is being used to justify the increase in toll fees – an imposition that many view as not only patently anti-poor but the result as well of “evident corruption.”

Sidebar: Aquino Disappoints on Toll Hike but That’s Not a Surprise

Click here for more stories on the toll-fee increases

Bulatlat.com Labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU or May First Movement) yesterday asked the power distributor Meralco to stop imposing additional power rates and instead refund around P7 billion (or more than US$157m) overcharges that it had collected from over 4 million Meralco customers in 2004 and 2007. Since last month, Meralco had been imposing…

The militant group Bayan rejected calls from government to give emergency powers to President Arroyo but recognizes the need for the government to control the prices of commodities. This call was echoed by the women’s group GABRIELA who called the current situation of run-away increases in the prices of food and other basic commodities as…