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Piston wants oil dereg law out

LTFRB hit for reducing student discount

BAGUIO CITY (June 6) — The Pagkakaisa ng mga Tsuper at Operattors Nationwide (Piston)-Metro Baguio today protested the unrelenting oil price increases and called for the junking of the oil deregulation law in a noise barrage at the Igorot Park, here, as part of a nationally coordinated action.

According to Piston-Metro Baguio Chair Lito Wayas, the scrapping of the oil deregulation law is the long-term solution to the unrelenting oil price hikes.

“Without the said law, the government will regain its control over the country’s oil industry, and in a way regulate oil prices,” Wayas said. He also called on all affected sectors to unite and pressure the Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo administration to scrap the said law and take control of the country’s oil industry, reiterating that oil price hikes affects not only the transport sector but also other impoverished sectors.

Wayas said that although drivers and operators welcome fare hikes, these are just short-term solutions. “Fare hikes help drivers and operators cope with the current prices of oil based products and basic commodities for a certain period. However, this only passes the buck on commuters,” Wayas said.

Piston hit the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB) for reducing the student fare discount in response to the Federation of Jeepney Operators and Drivers Association in the Philippines (Fejodap) fare hike proposal.

“Drivers and operators also have families. We have children who go to school. Like every poor family, we are also affected by increases in prices of basic goods and services including fare increases. The decrease in student fare discount would also mean additional expenses for us,” Wayas explained in Ilocano.

John Panem of the National Union of Students of the Philippines (NUSP) agreed with Wayas. He said the increase in basic goods and services including tuition fee hikes are already too much and a decrease in student fare discount means more burdens for parents to shoulder.

“When the government passed the oil deregulation law in 1996, government claimed that competition among oil firms would lower oil prices, but oil prices continuously increased since the law was passed,” Panem explained in Filipino.

Panem also supported the transport sector’s call to scrap the oil deregulation law, adding that the interest of the transport sector is not in conflict with that of the student sector because they are both hit by oil price increases. # Kimberlie Olmaya Ngabit Quitasol for NORDIS

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