Grace Poe pledges probe on fuel price disparity

SENATORIAL candidate Grace Poe vowed Monday to probe the price difference of petroleum products in Negros Occidental compared to other provinces.

Poe, who was in the province on Monday with re-electionist Senator Francis Escudero, said Bacolod City and Negros Occidental are key areas, so she wants to know why there is disparity in the prices of fuels.

The price difference of fuels in Negros Occidental ballooned anew after a series of price increases imposed by oil companies. From P2 per liter in the previous years, the difference is noted now at P5 to P6 per liter higher compared to the prices in other provinces.

"You said that the prices of fuels here are higher than the prices in Cebu. That's why I see defects of the Oil Deregulation Law. This is part of those things that I want the government to look into. The welfare of poor should be addressed, too. Reports have it that our country is given good standing by the credit monitoring companies. That's why I will also push that the poor should also benefit from it through taxes if possible," she said.

"My mother is from here, so I will really bring to the Senate Bacolod and Negros concerns when I become senator," Poe assured Negrenses.

Poe, an independent candidate adopted by both the Liberal Party of President Benigno Aquino III and the United Nationalist Alliance of Vice President Jejomar Binay, is the daughter of national artist and King of Philippine Movies Fernando Poe Jr. and Eueen of Philippine Movies Negrense Susan Roces.

She said she shares her father’s passion to serve and desire to help the poor and that like her father, she understands that poverty can break the Filipino family and bring great harm to the children. This, she said, is the reason why she sees the need to focus on poverty alleviation efforts on the family as a basic social institution.

Poe’s platform builds on her father’s social covenant and focuses on poverty alleviation, opportunities for all, especially the children, and electoral reforms.

She has served as chair of the Movie and Television Review and Classification Board under the Aquino administration. (TDE)