TODAY (July 23) is supposed to be the second day of a two- or three-day transport strike announced on Tuesday by the militant jeepney operators’ group Manibela. As in the innumerable previous strikes staged by this group and others, the initial reports from yesterday (Wednesday) were that it has been largely ineffective, although there were some disruptions in some areas. That the strike has turned out to be no more than a bratty tantrum by a relatively small number of malcontents is fortunate, because while these strikes have been merely tiresome annoyances up until now, this one was an attempt to take unfair advantage of a worrisome economic situation that is affecting everyone.
In Manibela’s press conference on Tuesday, its president Mar Valbuena said that the group was specifically calling on the Department of Energy (DOE) to investigate and hold accountable oil companies for “baseless” fuel price increases.
“The transport sector can no longer remain silent while the government, particularly the Department of Energy, seems to be neglecting us with the successive oil price hikes that are sinking the livelihoods of drivers, the poor and ordinary Filipinos,” said Valbuena.
“We demand an explanation for every increase in the price of petroleum products, but it seems that [Secretary] Sharon Garin of the Department of Energy is becoming the lawyer of the oil companies,” he added.
Our charge that the jeepney operators, at least those who are a part of the Manibela group, are taking advantage of current circumstances is not made casually. Jeepneys have for years been afforded a P10 per liter discount on diesel fuel, and that subsidy has been continued and even expanded to more stations beyond the approximately 2,700 that were already part of the program. In early March, drivers were granted an additional cash subsidy of between P1,500 and P5,000, while jeepney operators were given between P5,000 and P10,000 by the government. In addition, many local governments also provided subsidies of lesser amounts to the drivers and operators in their jurisdictions.
Beyond that, the DOE has also prevailed on the oil companies to stagger their price increases when the weekly jump was too much for consumers to bear all at once. That was not implemented in this week’s price increases of P3 to P4 per liter for gasoline and P10 to P11 for diesel, but very likely would be if rapid fuel price increases persist for another couple of weeks.
We are not insensitive to the reality that even under the best of times, driving a jeepney does not provide one with an abundant income, and we recognize that the sector is experiencing more economic hardship under the present circumstances. However, so is every other business and consumer in the country, as the fuel cost crisis affects everything. What is being done to ameliorate the situation for the transport sector now is likely the limit of what can be done by the government without sacrificing the needs of some other segment of the population, particularly since the causes of the crisis are almost entirely beyond the country’s control.
In the week between July 15 and July 21, global oil prices rose by about $6 per barrel, or about 7 percent, and are now back above $90 per barrel. And as we pointed out in yesterday’s editorial, the suspension of diesel fuel exports by Russia has removed about 12 percent of the global supply, which drives up those prices even faster. The DOE certainly can monitor local pump price increases to ensure that they are not in excess of the overall global price trend, but it already does that, and in fact has heightened its monitoring since the crisis began.
Longer-term solutions, such as repealing all or part of the Oil Deregulation Law, or developing a national fuel reserve, will be time-consuming and difficult, and will not be available for years if they are accomplished at all. The government should start working on those, and in fact has already taken initial steps toward creating a strategic reserve, but there is little more that can be done immediately. Staging another transport strike, which only creates hardships for ordinary commuters who are no less at the mercy of higher fuel prices than the jeepney operators, will in no way achieve solutions that do not exist.
The transport sector is admittedly experiencing more economic hardship under the present circumstances. But so is every other business and consumer in the country, as the fuel cost crisis affects everything.
