Tuesday, March 25, 2008 'Most oil price hikes happen under Arroyo's administration' By Karl G. Ombion
SINCE the oil deregulation law was first implemented, much of the oil price increases happened under the Arroyo administration, said the Ibon Foundation.
And this is not only because of the length of the President's term but because of her continued implementation of the oil deregulation law amid public outcry, as well as her imposition of the Reformed Value-Added Tax (VAT) on oil, said Ibon Foundation Executive Editor Rosario Belle Guzman in a statement.
Guzman added that oil price increases under Arroyo's term comprise almost 42 percent of total increases since the first oil deregulation law in 1996.
The Arroyo administration has done little to avert rising prices of petroleum products, Ibon said, adding that since Arroyo became president, the price of premium gasoline has increased by 147 percent while that of unleaded gasoline jumped by as much as 151 percent. Regular gasoline also increased its price by 150 percent.
Socially-sensitive oil products likewise posted sharper increases. The price of diesel grew by 168 percent while that of kerosene jumped by 196 percent.
With the unrelenting oil price increases, Ibon called for the immediate removal of the 12 percent VAT on oil to mitigate the effects of the skyrocketing prices.
From 2005 when the Arroyo government imposed the VAT on petroleum products, the price of gasoline jumped 20 percent while diesel and kerosene prices have increased by 17 percent and 19 percent, respectively.
LPG posted the sharpest increase since the VAT was imposed with a 36 percent hike. Fuel oil, on the other hand, has swelled its price by 31 percent.
"Removing the 12 percent VAT on oil is urgent because of falling incomes of Filipino families, and rising prices of basic goods like rice and utility rates such as electricity," said Guzman.
Removing the VAT on oil, she added, would stimulate economic activity through savings by consumers on their fuel bills while lowering operating costs of fuel-intensive business establishments.
However, a long-term solution to the oil price increases would be the repeal of Republic Act (RA) 8479 or the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998.
"Unfortunately the Arroyo government, under whose watch oil price hikes soared tremendously, continues to implement this flawed law," Guzman said.
