Piston strongly condemns the looming P5 per liter big-time oil price increase. The real culprit behind the relentless price shocks are market speculation and profiteering, not the Israel-Iran conflict as so often claimed. The truth is, global oil prices are being manipulated by traders and oil giants who exploit every hint of geopolitical tension to drive prices up, regardless of whether there is any actual disruption in supply.
The Department of Energy (DOE) has even admitted that there is no shortage of oil and there is no real supply cut from Iran or Israel. Yet, prices at gasoline stations are projected to soar, fueled by nothing more than the unregulated greed of oil companies. The premium placed on geopolitical tensions is just a convenient excuse for oil firms and speculators to rake in more profits, while Filipino drivers and commuters shoulder the burden.
The real problem is a deregulated oil industry that allows market speculation to dictate the fate of millions of Filipinos.
Piston demands an end to this system of legalized profiteering starting with the immediate unbundling of downstream oil prices, the repeal of the Oil Deregulation Law, and the nationalization of the oil industry to shield the public from the destructive effects of unchecked speculation.