JOLO—Sulu Rep. Munir Arbison said he would call for an investigation into the “exorbitant selling price” of diesel, gasoline and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in the province.

Arbison said it was puzzling why fuel prices here had not gone down despite the many rollbacks the oil companies had been implementing nationwide.

The Philippine Daily Inquirer found that compared to other areas, fuel prices in Sulu were indeed much higher.

An 11-kilogram LPG cylinder, for example, sells for P670, or about 40 percent higher than in Zamboanga City where it sells for P459.

Arbison said that in Zamboanga, which wasn’t too far away, the average pump price of diesel was P38.93 per liter compared to P48.35 here.

“Gasoline in Zamboanga is at P42.30 and kerosene is at P43.68 while in Sulu, gasoline sells for P50.06 and kerosene at P52.34,” he said.

Everything up

Because of the high fuel prices, Arbison said other commodities were also costlier in the province.

“This is too much to bear for the people of Sulu who do not have ample income to spend on basic goods and services,” he said.

Arbison said what was driving up fuel prices in the province was greed, contrary to local businessmen’s claims they had to pay exorbitant amounts to transport fuel here.

“This has been going on for years now and local authorities do not even care or dare to correct this unscrupulous practice by influential businessmen. They are slowly siphoning off the strength of the poor, who are even much poorer now because of their greediness and voracious appetite for money,” he said.

Own graves

Arbison said local businessmen were “not helping the people. It is like making them dig their own graves.”

In Digos, Davao del Sur, concerned citizens have called for an investigation of the big difference in fuel prices in their town compared to Davao City, which is only 56 kilometers away.

A resident, who declined to be identified, told the Inquirer that when gasoline in Davao City was at P51.20 per liter, it was at P52.20 in Digos.

“Now that gasoline in Davao is at P37.26 per liter, dealers here still maintain their prices over P40,” he said.

An employee at a Shell station in Digos said the price difference was due to the cost of transporting fuel from Davao to Digos. Inquirer Mindanao