DEPENDENCE on imported oil and food products should be lessened by the country amidst the continuing rise in prices of gasoline products and ongoing crisis between Russia and Ukraine.
This is what Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry President Charles Kenneth Co told SunStar Cebu on Tuesday, March 8, 2022.
Co said that the government should focus on long term self-sufficiency that will give the country better economics and food security.
He added that not only gas prices are increasing but all the commodities that Russia and Ukraine are producing are also affected.
These countries produce wheat, corn, sugar, and even alternative starch based products such as rice, said Co.
As a short-term solution, Co suggested that the public should conserve fuel by carpooling, using public transport, or riding bicycles.
“We hope that peace talks and cease fire will immediately put an end to the hostilities in Ukraine. War is not the solution. We pray for the safety of those affected by that war,” said Co.
Co also encouraged the public to ask the legislators for a temporary reprieve by reducing the Value Added Tax on oil products in the country.
Despite the consecutive increase in oil prices, the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board Central Visayas assured the commuting public that fare in public transports will remain as it is.
Steven Yu, president of the Mandaue City Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MCCI), told SunStar Cebu on Wednesday, March 9, a day after oil companies imposed an increase of their products for the 10th time since January this year, that consumers can expect a bigger increase of commodities should the successive oil price hikes in the country not be resolved soon.
Yu noted that there are already small increases in prices randomly happening across all products not just in Mandaue City but in the entire Cebu Island.
“If the heightened commodity prices do not go down soon, once the inventory of the manufacturers get depleted, we can expect bigger increases,” he said.
Yu said the successive oil price hikes is an added burden or woe to the business community, adding that they have not yet recovered from the Coronavirus disease (Covid-19) pandemic and from the damage brought about by the Typhoon Odette.
He further said that this will badly affect them despite the recent easing of restrictions such as the lifting of curfew hours, operation of full seating capacity in public transports, and non-requirement of vaccination cards, which played a big role in the recovery of the business community.
“With the easing of restrictions, we are seeing the gradual resurgence of consumers coming out and spending, but the increasing prices of oil and commodities put a damper to that purchasing power,” Yu said.
With this, the MCCI president said he is hoping that the government can do timely interventions in order to lessen the potential increases of commodities.
He, however, expressed that they are elated that the government is taking steps to look at various measures to soften the impact of the war by reviewing the Biofuels Act, Oil Deregulation Act, possible lowering and scrapping of tariffs on corn, wheat, oil, pork, chicken and other commodities.
Yu, however, said that it is a valid move for the government to increase the supply of commodities in the country through importation.
Meanwhile, lawyer Salvador Diputado, Department of Agriculture assistant secretary for the Visayas, said the successive oil price hikes is very unfortunate as it triggers a chain of reaction resulting in the consequent increases of all commodities, particularly food and other basic necessities.
Diputado, however, said it would be the best time for the public to raise their own food so that they may be able to overcome difficulties ahead.
Since January of this year, total increase in gasoline prices was about P13.25 while P17.50 and P14.50 for diesel and kerosene, according to the Department of Energy Visayas field office. (IRT, MKG)