MANILA, Philippines—Despite the recent lifting of oil price caps, transport groups have vowed not to increase fares until Christmas to ease the financial burden on households still reeling from the effects of recent storms on the country.

Party-list Unified Transport Koalisyon (1-Utak) said Wednesday that it has asked its member public transport operators and drivers to bear with the increase in pump prices of diesel and gasoline, which started with the lifting of Executive Order No. 839 last Monday.

EO 839, issued by Malacañang late last month, froze the prices of gasoline and diesel to Oct. 15 levels, to help businesses and households recover from the devastation caused by recent storms in areas in Luzon, including Metro Manila.

“Our consensus is to do everything to prevent any fare increase,” said 1-Utak party-list Rep. Vigor Mendoza in an interview.

“We will try to prevent any hike before Christmas,” he said.

On Wednesday, several oil companies led by the Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., hiked the pump price of diesel by P2, gasoline by P1.25 to P1.50 a letter and kerosene by P1.50 a liter, to allegedly allow them recover their losses incurred when the government imposed a price freeze.

He said the group’s members have agreed on a threshold of P33 for the price of diesel per liter before asking the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board for the authority to hike fares.

If that level is breached, the group will have no choice but to seek a provisional authority to hike jeepney fares by 50 centavos to bring the minimum charge to P7.50 for the first four kilometers.

Members of 1-Utak include transport groups Federation of Jeepney Operators’ and Drivers’ Associations of the Philippines, the Alliance of Transport Operators and Drivers Association of the Philippines and the Provincial Bus Operations Association of the Philippines.

The public transportation sector consumes more than two-thirds of the fuel products sold in the country, with most of the sector’s vehicles running on diesel.

Meanwhile, the Pinag-Isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (Piston) condemned the lifting of the price freeze on fuel products, but added that the group would also try to shoulder the added expense of higher diesel prices so as not to pass the burden on to consumers.

“We are trying to shoulder the increase so that we are not forced to hike fares,” Piston Secretary General George San Mateo said in a separate interview.

“We don’t have plans to file for a fare hike yet, but we don’t know how long we’ll be able to take it,” he said in Filipino.

San Mateo said their group would continue to push for the regulation of the oil sector to avoid habitual overpricing of oil products in the country.

“The government should step (in) or else we will mount a transport strike, or worse, a fare hike of up to P1,” he said.