BAGUIO City Mayor Mauricio Domogan is alarmed over the continuing rise of fuel cost in the city.
The mayor expressed concern on the inability of the Department of Energy (DOE) to explain its cause and believes sanctions must be imposed for erring gasoline companies.
In the weekly "Ugnayang Panglunsod," Domogan reiterated the need for an accurate explanation on how fuel costs are supposed to be computed and the possibility of filing a case against those found to be at fault.
Domogan said talks with the City Legal office will follow on the matter, which he has tagged as a priority.
"One of the serious problems we are experiencing right now which I hope the DOE will come up and help us, I cannot understand at all on why the difference of fuel coming from La Union to Baguio is so high, P5 to P10 per liter. If we would compute the fare of the tanker in bringing the fuel up to Baguio, I cannot justify the add on charges in the delivery of fuel," he said.
Domogan called on the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) regional office to act on the matter.
"The DTI said they do not have any authority pertaining to the price of fuel, they are only doing the monitoring and it is only the DOE who has authority regarding this. I saw the explanation of the DOE just the other night and I hope they should come here and do the necessary computation," he said.
Domogan fumed on the DOE explanation on the distance of transporting fuel from La Union to Baguio City as the reason for the high fuel costs.
"I am getting the monitoring report of DTI and I have to right DOE, this is a very serious problem which affects everyone especially the poor people. I hope DOE would come here and compute on how much the fuel costs should be. How many kilometers is it from San Fernando to Baguio, how much is the fare per liter and is it justifiable for the P10 additional charges?" he said.
Domogan confirmed reports that fuel cost in Buguias, Benguet is cheaper than Baguio City prices.
"I somehow do not subscribe to the explanation in one of the reasons for the cost of fuel, particularly the need to have a depot to store fuel. The fuel tankers go directly to the gasoline stations, so why would there be a need for a depot? The point here is how much is the fare per liter from San Fernando to Baguio if this is the area where they will point to as the reason for the fuel cost than that is understandable," he said.