Monday, August 04, 2008 Dad wants fuel prices monitored after rollback
CEBU City Councilor Edgardo Labella is asking the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) and the Department of Energy (DOE) to closely monitor fuel prices here, following the P1.50 reduction announced by oil companies.
He said there are reports that “some unscrupulous persons engaged in the retailing of (fuel) tend to be slow-footed when it comes to rolling back the prices.”
“It could help facilitate the swift implementation of the price rollback of fuel at the ground level if the concerned government agencies would monitor the prices of gasoline, diesel, kerosene, including LPG, considering the report,” the councilor said.
Despite the downward trend in fuel prices in the international market, a few local oil companies “appear hesitant” to lower product prices because of so-called “under-recoveries” from previous months, he said.
Immediate action
Immediate action on his request, said Labella, would greatly benefit not just Cebu but the whole country as well.
“Under the current economic crisis…, reduction of the prevailing prices of gasoline, diesel, kerosene and LGP is indeed timely and a huge breather to millions of consumers nationwide,” he added.
Last July 23, the City Council also asked the City Treasurer’s Office (CTO), in coordination with the DOE 7, to immediately inspect stations, particularly the calibration of their pumps, at random.
That was after Labella received reports that some refueling stations gave customers less than what they paid for because of defective pumps.
Subsidy program
It came a week after he asked the DTI to find a way to include LPG in the Office of the President’s P2-billion power subsidy program to shield the public from its increasing cost.
He said that while thousands use LPG in the homes, households find it hard to replenish it once the containers are empty because a 14-kilo tank already costs P630 to P660 each.
He saw the National Government power subsidy fund as a way to ease the people’s suffering.
The Office of the President used the P2-billion fund to soften the impact of Meralco power rates o Metro Manila consumers; Labella wants that the fund be also used to cushion the effects of rising LPG prices on all Filipinos. (RHM)
