Unrest seen if gov’t fails to act on high oil prices

Palace says it is not ignoring rising oil prices

MANILA, Philippines – Former Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno is advising the Aquino administration to do something about high fuel prices.

According to Diokno, the series of oil price hikes which led to frequent protest actions, should be a cause of concern for the administration as this may lead to unrest if not immediately acted on.

“Parang they are not searching for solution out of the box,” Diokno said.

When reminded that the President has Pantawid Pasada program, Diokno said this does not really help the majority in the transport sector. “Di naman sya nakikinig eh…May ginagawa… Noynoying!” added Diokno.

According to Diokno,  the government may be aspiring for a credit upgrade, which is why it does not want to reduce the value-added tax rate to 10%.

But Diokno said a credit upgrade is not worth it since the government is not even borrowing money because it has enough funds at this point. If imported oil prices go up, he noted other commodities and services will also increase, eventually affecting the lives of ordinary people.

Palace reaction

Malacañang bristled at Diokno’s statements, with deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte saying the government is not ignoring the rising oil prices.

Valte insisted that the government has taken “several steps” to mitigate its effects.

In particular, she said the government has addressed the concerns of the transport sector including coming up with a single ticketing system and cracking down on “kotong” cops.

She said the long-term plan is to develop indigenous sources of energy and lessen the country’s dependence on imported oil.

“Hindi naman po natin ini-ignore. In fact, we have taken several steps to cushion the effects. As part of the continuing effort, remember that the President did meet with the transport groups,” Valte said.

“Apart from their concern on oil prices – which they did not talk about extensively during the meeting – we have the managed to address their concerns, primarily on the single ticketing system, the compensation for employees, as well as the the kotong problem, as well as the long-term solutions that would lessen the dependency on gas and diesel.” –Alvin Elchico and Willard Cheng, ABS-CBN News