Youth group slams gov’t ‘inaction’ on oil price hikes

MANILA, Philippines—The militant youth group Anakbayan-National Capital Region, together with other groups, staged a 30-minute protest Tuesday in Manila, slamming the “inutility” of the Aquino administration to stem the successive oil price hikes.

“Aquino’s reasoning on the oil price hikes and advice for the people to save up is extremely unacceptable. He acts as if he has exhausted all efforts and means possible to address the overpricing of petroleum products when in fact he has done nothing,” said Anakbayan-NCR spokesperson Dianne Solmayor. The militant groups staged their protest at the Petron gasoline station on Pedro Gil street corner Taft Avenue in Manila.

The Anakbayan-NCR condemned Aquino’s politics toward oil price and the recent statement by Presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte that the successive oil price hikes couldn’t be controlled.

Anakbayan-NCR hung a one-dimensional image of a man with a gas pump wrapped around his neck. It was supposed to show that “the Aquino administration is strangulating the people with overpricing and enjoying super-profit estimated at P200, 000 per hour.”

The group challenged the Aquino administration to end the 60-70 percent oil overpricing, review the oil deregulation law and scrap the value added tax on oil products. The Anakbayan-NCR claimed that the government had collected a total of P70 billion in taxes on oil products.

“Instead of allocating the budget for basic social services, it was directly added to the presidential pork barrel, a concrete manifestation that the Aquino government focuses on raising its own interest in line with the neo-liberal policies mandated by the US imperialists,” said Solmayor.

Anakbayan-NCR said, “Last year the (oil) price increased 44 times summating to P11. Only on the first two weeks of 2012, the oil price soared to P2.70 per liter while only P0.80 was rolled back. LPG also increased its price to P99/tank on the first month of this year excluding the recent additional P6 increase on LPG.”

Another round of oil price hike (P.50 to P.60 for gasoline and P.25 for diesel) is expected this week, according to the Department of Energy.

Anakbayan-NCR said they will participate in a nationwide protest against “oil overpricing” slated on March 15. Also joining are labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno, transport group Piston and other militant organizations.