Piston vehemently condemns the Marcos government’s continued inaction on the non-stop rise in fuel prices.
Seven straight weeks of pump-price increases have begun to shred the livelihoods of PUV drivers, operators, and the meager incomes of everyday commuters and ordinary consumers. Oil companies have announced another round of diesel and kerosene hikes this week, marking the seventh consecutive weekly increase.
While global oil markets — shaped by OPEC+ production choices, US sanctions on Iran, and geopolitical conflicts in the Middle East — provide part of the backdrop to rising crude costs, these international pressures do not absolve the Marcos government of responsibility. Volatility abroad has been compounded by local policy choices including the VAT and excise tax burden on petroleum products and the three decades of oil industry deregulation.
Worse, these fuel shocks arrive as public trust in government spending is already strained by the ongoing flood-control projects controversy and mass protests demanding accountability for widespread government corruption.
Piston demands immediate, concrete action: scrapping regressive taxes on oil and repealing the Oil Deregulation Law to force oil companies the full, transparent unbundling of downstream oil prices.