Tuesday, June 10, 2008 Help fight oil price hike: Group prods Cebu lawmakers
THE Coalition Against Oil Price Increase (CAOPI) has called on Cebuano lawmakers to support the five House bills that could bring down the prices of fuel that badly affect peasants, drivers and workers.
CAOPI Convenor, lawyer Joey Arnado, cited the House Bill as: (HB) 1724 (An Act Scrapping the Downstream Oil Deregulation of 1998, HB 3029 (An Act Regulating the Downstream Petroleum Industry), HB 3030 (An Act Instituting Centralized Procurement of Petroleum in the Country), HB 3031 (an Act Renationalizing Petron Corp.), and HB 3442 (An Act to Remote VAT (Value-Added Tax on Petroleum Products).
Manifesto
In a meeting and press conference at Cendet, CAOPI leaders signed a manifesto calling on government to watch over the welfare of the people against the “profiteering schemes of greedy oil cartels.”
Arnado said they are one in calling for a stop in oil price increases, the scrapping of the Oil Deregulation Law, removal of VAT on oil, nationalization of the oil industry. They support the HB that addresses the oil crisis.
The other signatories of the manifesto are Mandaue City Councilor Victor Biaño, Arman Perez of Bayan-Visayas, Eduardo Geolen of Nagkahiusang Drivers sa Sugbo (Nadsu), and Sister Maria Gennie Cortes of the Franciscan Sisters (PIF), among others.
Representatives
The CAOPI leaders said because the people suffered so much from the oil crisis, Reps. Antonio Cuenco, Pablo John Garcia, Eduardo Gullas, Pablo P. Garcia, Ramon “Red” Durano VI, Nerissa Soon-Ruiz, Benhur Salim-bangon and Raul del Mar have the obligation to support the House bills because they are supposed to be representatives of their constituents.
Arnado said that VAT for oil is another culprit for the skyrocketing oil price.
“VAT is a regressive taxation which affects more the poor as it collects 12 percent more from the actual price of the product,” read the CAOPI manifesto.
Citing the data of the Department of Finance (DOF), CAOPI noted increases in petroleum products from P4.24 per liter in 2006 to P4.38 in 2007 and P5.06 as of May 2008.
Inflation
“The Arroyo administration earns around P5.5 million daily for every P1 per liter increase in pump prices. This explains why the Arroyo government does not want to scrap the VAT and control oil prices,” the manifesto further reads.
The manifesto added that with the increases in the price or rice and other food products, the oil price increases triggered the 9.6 percent inflation rate in May 2008.
Biaño said that he will file a resolution with the Mandaue City Council to support the five House bills and remind Congress to do their part in addressing the oil crisis. (EOB)
