BACOLOD CITY? A group of drivers in Negros Occidental is calling for a uniform price of diesel nationwide.

As of Thursday, the price was at P35.50 per liter, much higher than the P28 in Luzon.

?We are calling for a uniform diesel price of P28 per liter nationwide,? Jesse Ortega, secretary general of the United Negros Drivers Operators Center (Undoc) said.

Undoc also joined the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (United Organizations of Drivers and Operators Nationwide or Piston) in demanding a nationwide freeze in fuel prices.

Elizabeth Katalbas, president of the Federation of Bacolod City Drivers Associations, said her group was awaiting a summit called today by Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes to see what actions the government would take.

Former National Economic and Development Authority Chief Ralph Recto urged the government to prevent oil firms from making consumers in the Visayas and Mindanao bear the brunt of the temporary freeze in oil prices in calamity-hit areas in Luzon.

President Macapagal-Arroyo recently signed Executive Order No. 839 imposing a ceiling on fuel prices in Luzon because of the calamities.

A price freeze that was first imposed on basic commodities nationwide following the typhoons that hit Luzon has also been lifted in non-calamity-stricken areas, such as Negros Occidental, trade provincial head Rebecca Rascon said.

Even before Tropical Storms ?Ondoy? and ?Pepeng? struck Luzon, fuel prices in Bacolod, Cebu, Tacloban, Cagayan de Oro, and other cities were already higher than those in Metro Manila, Recto told the Inquirer in a phone interview.

With a variation of cross-subsidy schemes, the difference between prices in Metro Manila and the Visayas and Mindanao has worsened, Recto said.

?This variation of a cross-subsidy is unfair to areas which are economically less prosperous than Metro Manila,? he said.

A fisherman in the Visayas has the right to complain if the fuel for his banca was more expensive than that a Makati resident would load in his sports utility vehicle, he noted.

?The price freeze in Luzon should not be used as a scapegoat to raise the prices in the Visayas and Mindanao. They are not cost recovery markets,? Recto pointed out.

He noted that increases made by major oil players were similar, indicating price fixing or collusion.
The Oil Deregulation Law has to be amended to address this problem, Recto added.

He called on the government to buy back Petron so the people would have a fair option for their fuel needs.