The Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) will cap the increase in food prices to 2 to 10 percent while the Department of Energy (DOE) does not expect the cost of fuel at retail to hit P100 per liter anytime soon.
At the Laging Handa public briefing, DOE Undersecretary Gerardo Erguiza Jr. said there are no “drastic factors” in the world market at present that will push prices of fuel to P100 per liter.
Instead, prices will continue to fluctuate, he added.
“What goes up must come down. prices will eventually go down. In 2011, 2012 and 2014, we experienced price hikes but eventually (prices) went down… In the meantime, our problem is, demand is high so let’s try to conserve energy….,” Erguiza said.
Yesterday, prices went up by P2.70 on gasoline, P6.55 on diesel and P5.45 on kerosene.
As of June 2, the latest average Manila price per liter of gasoline (RON95) stood at P80.15, diesel at P75.10 and kerosene at P80.57. As of May 31, year-to-date adjustments of petroleum products have amounted to a net increase of P23.85 per liter for gasoline, P30.30 per liter for diesel and P27.65 per liter for kerosene.
In the same briefing, DTI Undersecretary Ruth Castelo said the agency will keep the price adjustments to a range of 25 centavos to P1.50 maximum on basic and prime commodities seeking adjustments.
This is in view of requests received by the agency for a price increase on Pinoy Tasty and Pinoy Pandesal, one brand of sardines and one brand of detergent soap.
Castelo said the DTI will also negotiate with manufacturers to temper and/or stagger the increases instead of slapping a one-time, big jump.
“We will come up with a reasonable increase so products will remain affordable to consumers and manufacturers will continue to be viable,” she said.
Castelo added the DTI will issue the price bulletin as soon as the studies are completed, adding the agency limits to 30 percent the number of the shelf-keeping units (SKUs) on BNPC.
The last Suggested Retail Price bulletin was issued on May 11 covering 82 or 38 percent of the 212 SKUs.
Bakers are seeking a P4-increase in the price of Pinoy Tasty from P38.50 per loaf and Pinoy Pandesal from P23.50 per 10-piece pack.
But according to Simplicio Umali Jr., president of Gardenia Bakeries Philippines, prices of branded bread products may also increase by next month on top of the 2 to 4 percent hike implemented in April. Branded bread products are not covered by DTI monitoring.
Umali said rising costs of flour and other ingredients as well as of fuel and utilities and even labor are pushing production costs.
But he said bakers are exploring more cost reduction measures to counter rising cost of production while ensuring consistency in the quality of their products.
In Congress, lawmakers have renewed calls to suspend the excise tax on fuel and petroleum products.
Sen. Grace Poe said the Department of Finance should consider this until the global oil market normalizes.
“This representation has pushed for the same cause in the last Congress and will do so again in the future, if necessary,” she added.
Rep. Arlene Brosas (PL, Gabriela) said the House of Representatives
must prioritize the measures seeking to scrap or at least reduce excise taxes on pil products and lowering food prices,
Brosas said prioritizing the scrapping of excise taxes on petroleum products through amendments to the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) Law as well as the removal of other regressive taxes on consumption goods have to on top of the order of business.
“Fuel subsidies are insufficient in easing the oil price shock that we are experiencing right now,” said Brosas.
s early last February, deputy speaker Michael Romero has urged the Executive to call for a special session to allow Congress to act on the measures and appealed to the President’s economic managers to endorse the proposal to suspend excise taxes on diesel, gasoline, cooking gas, and other oil products to give the public some immediate relief.
The Palace thumbed down the proposal to suspending the taxes on petroleum product which would have cut fuel prices by P6 per liter for diesel, P10 for gasoline and P33 per 11-kilogram cylinder for cooking gas.
Among the pending measures in the 18th Congress was House Bill No. 10488 which seeks to reduce the excise tax on oil products. The bill was not even voted for passage on second reading since it reached the plenary in November last year.
Excise tax and VAT impose additional P13 to P17 per liter on gasoline and diesel products, based on the TRAIN law. – Irma Isip, Jed Macapagal, Wendel Vigilia and Raymond Africa.
