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The oil companies raised today, November 17, the pump prices of petroleum products by more than one peso per liter, despite a call from Senator María Imelda Josefa Marcos to suspend the increases in the price of oil to the light from the calamities caused by typhoons.
Oil companies raised the cost of gasoline by P1.05 to P1.10 per liter, diesel by P1.50 to P1.55 per liter, and kerosene by P1.30 per liter.
Centrum Fuel, Cleanfuel, Petro Gazz, Phoenix Petroleum, Pilipinas Shell and Seaoil announced the adjustments Monday.
Also on Monday, Marcos asked the Department of Energy (DoE) and the three largest oil companies in the country not to raise prices.
He said financial difficulties amid the pandemic and recent calamities called for an oil price freeze, particularly in provinces where relief efforts were underway.
“Where is your conscience at a time when people are crying out for help?” asked Marcos, chairman of the Senate Committee on Economic Affairs.
The Energy Department said it granted oil price increases because global market prices soared on positive news that a coronavirus vaccine could soon be available.
But Marcos said crude prices were nowhere near their levels before the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus pandemic.
“The big three oil companies seem to owe us a discount. Since January, diesel prices have dropped by less than 40 percent, even as Middle East crude prices fell by more than 82 percent, ”it said in a statement.
With reports from BERNADETTE TAMAYO
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