Super Profit from Oil at the Expense of the Poor – GWP Rep. De Jesus

“More than 75% of Filipino women live below poverty line. Each time the troika of big oil companies extort the public with an increase in the price of oil, it is the women whose backs are nearing the breaking point as they are already hard-pressed for their families’ survival,” said GWP Rep. Emmi De Jesus.

“What is ironic is that when Energy Secretary Rene Almendras said that the government cannot control oil prices as these are dictated by market forces, the public was made to swallow hook, line and sinker this oft-repeated excuse for oil price hikes for the umpteenth time. While it is complicated, we need to understand that oil is now primarily traded in the international futures markets. The price of oil is no longer dictated by the simple law of supply and demand. The spiralling of prices is primarily dictated by buyers and traders who gamble on the price of oil in the name of super profit-taking,” Rep. de Jesus further explained.

“Consumers have been slapped by three consecutive oil price hikes this January alone, while the oil companies have yet to prove that they are not guilty of overpricing. It has been four months since President Aquino ordered the Departments of Finance, Energy, and Justice and the Bureau of Internal Revenue to look into the books of all oil companies, but the government has yet to actually start the investigation on oil overpricing,” added the Gabriela solon.

De Jesus also stressed that the women and Gabriela Women’s Party have long been calling for the repeal of Oil Deregulation Law and instead, the promulgation of policies that will protect consumers from the incessant oil price hike, such as the development of a national oil industry.

“Oil is a crucial and socially volatile product. It requires strong political will to work for the interest of the people, especially the marginalized and disadvantaged, where oil is concerned. If the President cannot repeal the Oil Deregulation Law and work for the development of a national oil industry, the people should call on his accountability as much as he now is calling on Corona’s accountability,” De Jesus ended.