Gatchalian calls for urgent measures vs oil price hikes

(FILE PHOTO)

MANILA, Philippines— Senator Sherwin Gatchalian is urging the government to take urgent measures to mitigate the impact of soaring gas prices.

In a statement on Friday, the chairman of the Senate committee on energy called on the government to immediately implement the Pantawid Pasada Program (PPP) for public utility drivers using e-wallets so that money could be sent instantaneously to beneficiaries.

The PPP should also be extended to food transporters, according to Gatchalian.

The senator likewise urged the Department of Energy to formulate contingency plans in case of supply disruptions.

He also advised the government to monitor global oil prices closely which he said may escalate in months to come due to the uncertainty brought about by the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

“We may need to suspend excise taxes as the last resort,” Gatchalian said.

As economies open because of the rapid decline of COVID-19 cases, the senator expects that “consumption of oil will increase and therefore, price will also go up.”

“This is aggravated by the uncertainty created by the invasion of Russia into Ukraine considering that Russia is a major global oil and gas supplier,” he said.

Although Russia is not a supplier of oil and gas to the Philippines, Gatchalian explained that the global supply disruptions will cause oil prices to escalate in the short to medium term.

“There is no overnight solution to reduce oil prices in our country,” he pointed out.

“The only way to do that is to reduce our dependence on imported oil by exploring more domestic sources of oil and gas and transition in electric vehicles in the years to come,” the senator added.

/MUF