Friday, May 18, 2007 Gasoline prices in Basilan soar due to supply shortage By Bong Garcia
ISABELA CITY, Basilan -- Prices of gasoline soared these past few days, following the reported shortage of fuel supply in this city.
Sidewalk gasoline peddlers are taking advantage by selling gasoline above the government-regulated price after all of the gasoline stations temporarily stopped operations due to non-availability of supply.
Drivers of motorized tricycles, the main mode of transportation in this city, disclosed that the price of gasoline started shooting up two days before the May 14 elections.
"There was no arrival of fuel tanker that delivers gasoline to this city," a driver said.
Another driver disclosed that the gasoline peddlers have jacked up the prices from the government-regulated price to P50 and later to P60 a liter for regular fuel.
The government-regulated price for special gasoline is P39.74 and P36.31 for regular gasoline per liter.
The price per liter for regular gasoline here soared to P70 as of noontime Thursday.
At one instance, gasoline peddlers, some of them teenagers, were seen holding a liter of soft drink bottle filled with gasoline, in Aguada Bridge, some 200 meters away from the provincial capitol.
With this situation, drivers of motorized tricycles have also jacked up the fare from P8 to P10 per passenger they ferry within the five-kilometer radius of the city.
It was learned from the drivers that the gasoline peddlers are buying gasoline from nearby Zamboanga City.
The gasoline is placed in containers and transported to this city by motorized bancas.
The travel time from Zamboanga City to this city is only 40 minutes by fast craft and one hour and 30 minutes through a regular ferry.
