Press Release
December 12, 2008

ROXAS: ROLLBACKS GOOD BUT WE NEED MORE
INSISTS ON P10/L CUT ON DIESEL, UNLEADED GASOLINE

Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas today insisted diesel and gasoline prices should be reduced by P10 per liter instead of the measly P1/L cut announced by the "Big Three" oil companies yesterday.

"Nagbaba na sila ng P3 kada litro ngayon. Kulang pa iyan pero malapit na din. Ang punto dito sa simpleng kalkulasyon, dapat mga P25 kada litro lang ang halaga ng diesel at ganun din ang gasolina (They have cut their prices by P3. That's still not enough but it's getting close to the appropriate cost. My point is, the price of diesel and gasoline should only be in the P25/L range)," he said.

Seaoil Philippines and Eastern Petroleum on Thursday cut prices of their gasoline products by P3/L and their diesel and kerosene products by P1/L. Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Petron Corp, PTT Philippines, Jetti, and Total Philippines likewise slashed pump prices of their gasoline, kerosene and diesel prices by P1/L effective Friday.

"Patuloy na bumababa ang halaga ng langis sa pandaigdigang merkado kung kaya't nararapat lamang na ibaba pa ng mga kumpanya ng langis dito sa ating bansa ang presyo ng kanilang mga produkto. Sana naman ay magkaroon sila ng puso at huwag puro ang pagkita lamang ng limpak-limpak na pera ang isipin nila. (The prices of fuel in the world market continue to go down. It is just proper for oil companies to follow the global trend. I hope these companies find their hearts and not just be concerned with earning lots of money)," Roxas said

The Ilonggo senator has been pushing that prices of diesel and gasoline products be further cut by P10/L parallel to the decreasing cost of fuel in the international market.

He has noted that based on the price of Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) oil prices, plus other costs such as the foreign exchange rate, transport costs, the 3% tariff and 12% VAT, prices have gone down 51.1% for diesel and 59.1% for unleaded gasoline since July, when oil was at its peak.

He said the December prices of diesel and unleaded gasoline only showed decreases of 37.6% and 42.2%, respectively, since July.

Roxas said the present price of P34.94/L diesel and P34.96/L unleaded gasoline is still too high, insisting these should be brought down to only P27.38/L and P24.73/L, respectively, for this month.

The chairman of the Senate trade and commerce committee said he would call for a hearing on the pricing of petroleum products and invite the Department of Energy and oil companies to clarify on how they calculate pump prices of fuel.

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