News Release
January 13, 2012
Amid a P1.80/liter increase in oil prices this week, the umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan called on the Aquino government to implement measure that will provide immediate relief for consumers, as well as long term measures to protect the country from price speculation and profiteering.
World oil prices rose anew yesterday due to intense speculation about a supply shortage should tensions between the US and Iran escalate. Bayan blamed the global oil cartel and the price speculators for pushing oil prices higher.
“The Aquino government has so far been grossly insensitive to the plight of the people. It has flatly ignored calls to remove the value added tax (VAT) on petroleum products. Its allies in the House of Representatives have sat on urgent bills reviewing the oil deregulation law,” said Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes, Jr.
“The economics student Noynoy Aquino seems no different from his economics teacher Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in terms of their neo-liberal economic philosophy. Both favor deregulation and privatization. Both favor the VAT on oil. Both rely on failed targeted subsidies that do not have a significant impact on consumers,” Reyes said.
Bayan said that the House Energy Committee chaired by Aquino ally Dina Abad (LP) has not held a single hearing on various bills that have called for the review or repeal of the oil deregulation law. Various groups have asked House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte last year to schedule the bills for public hearings.
“Removing the VAT on oil will not devastate the economy. It will in fact have a positive effect since lower oil prices will allow consumers to purchase other basic necessities. Even the proposed fare hike can be set aside so long as oil prices go down,” Reyes said.
“The people’s disgust over the country’s economic conditions is fast catching up with Aquino. The President cannot expect the people to forget about their economic woes just because the impeachment trial is coming up,” he added.
No major achievements
“Aside from the belated filing of charges against Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, there’s really nothing much that the present administration has achieved since it started its term. This is especially true for the economy. There has been no outstanding achievement in land reform, national industrialization and job creation and in poverty eradication. Aquino has shunned calls to remove the oppressive VAT on oil and power. The much-vaunted conditional cash transfer program has not made a dent on poverty,” Reyes said.
“Unemployment and overseas migration are also at an all-time high. Oil prices, water and power rates are soaring to new heights,” Reyes added. ###
