Oil price rollbacks insufficient, say motorists, PUV drivers

Motorists and Public Utility Vehicle (PUV) drivers say that the oil price rollbacks expected next week were too small to make a significant impact.

According to a "24 Oras" report by Bernadette Reyes on Friday, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced possible price rollbacks in the coming week due to recent activities in the 4-day oil trading at the world market.

While no final amount has been provided yet, oil industry sources claim that reductions may be around P5.50 to P6.40 per liter of diesel and up to P1 per liter of gasoline.

While drivers welcomed the rollback, they noted that the amount was still too small.

“Pag nag-rollback sila, maliit lang. Pero pag nagtaas sila, dubla-dubladong ang kwan, tinataas nila. Wala din mangyayari [sa] mga rollback-rollback na yan,” said a jeepney driver.

(If they do a rollback, it’s small. But if they impose a price increase, it's doubled. Nothing will happen [with those] rollbacks. That doesn’t mean anything.)

“Wala rin pong mangyayari doon, ma'am, eh. Kasi, syempre, magkano na lang kinikita namin… Parang ganun din. Useless din po, eh. Dapat po talaga bumalik sa dating presyo,” added a motorist.

(Nothing will happen to it. Since, of course, we don’t really earn much… It’s like the same. It’s useless. It should just go back to the previous price.)

Energy Secretary Sharon Garin shared that while prices of oil may have dropped on the world market, oil will remain expensive when it arrives in the country.

“Mathematical yan, e. Hindi 'yan yung, ay, sabihin ng oil company, eto lang yung babawas ko ngayon. Dapat may basis. Ang basis niyan, yung average ng limang araw. Hindi yan yung kusang dinidecide lang ng oil company kung ano yung presyo. It has to be justified and they have to show us also their calculation,” she said.

(It is mathematical. The oil company doesn’t simply say that this amount will be what we reduce today. It needs a basis. The basis would be the 5-day average. The prices are not just decided by the companies automatically. It has to be justified and they have to show us also their calculation.)

Currently, Dubai Crude has priced its oil at $102 per barrel as of Thursday, compared to $120 per barrel on Monday.

Brent Crude also dropped to only $95 per barrel from Monday’s $110, but it saw a slight increase to $97 on Friday due to Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.

DOE said that the country’s current oil stocks are still sufficient for 50 days, and that it is continuing its efforts to increase the country’s inventory. —Jiselle Anne C. Casucian/LDF, GMA News