Bicol drivers mull strike if 'Big 3' refuse rollback

By Ephraim Aguilar
Southern Luzon Bureau
First Posted 16:47:00 09/20/2008
INQUIRER.net

LEGAZPI CITY, Philippines -- The transport group Condor-Piston in the Bicol region is threatening a strike by its 10,000 public utility drivers if the country's three biggest oil companies do not heed its call for a "one-time-big-time" oil price rollback.

In a statement e-mailed to the Philippine Dily Inquirer on Saturday, Condor-Piston-Bicol chairman Joel Ascutia questioned big industry players Shell, Chevron, and Petron for not lowering prices at the pump by bigger amounts and as fast as world prices are coming down.

"Why is it taking so long for oil companies to reduce their prices big time? Unioil was able to reduce oil price by P3, what more the big players?" Ascutia said.

A day after all its competitors cut fuel prices by P1, Unioil Petroleum Philippines Inc. followed suit with a bigger reduction of P3 a liter for gasoline and P2 a liter for diesel and kerosene.

"But as always the Big 3 is thinking of maximum profits which approximately amounted to P12 billion last year," Ascutia said.

He added that while Bicolano drivers would have to make do with less than P200 a day of earnings, the big oil companies are wallowing in money.

"They have obviously made a killing because of the runaway oil prices then and they were very fast in jacking up the prices. Now they should be faster in lowering it because their consumers are already reeling in poverty," Ascutia added.

Condor-Piston-Bikol (Concerned Drivers and Operators for Reform) and the Bayan-Bikol (Bagong Alyansang Makabayan) are calling for at least an P11 rollback and the scrapping of the value added tax (VAT). Both demands can slash P20 from current oil prices.

Tessa Lopez, Bayan-Bikol spokesperson, said President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo should act now in pressuring the Big 3 to roll back fuel prices and scrap the VAT rather than giving out doles.

Ascutia said they plan to stage another transport strike if their demands are not met. In its past transport strike, the group was able to paralyze much of public land transportation in the Bicol Region.