The United Negros Drivers-Operators Center Inc. has asked President Benigno Aquino III to study the Oil Deregulation Law so provisions that disadvantage people can be corrected, a press release from the Philippine Information Agency said.

UNDOC secretary general Jessie Ortega said they believe this law is the root of the indiscriminate increase of petroleum product costs in the country.

He said their group is asking that safety nets be put in place in the law to protect the ordinary citizens from the effects of frequent oil price hikes or repeal it if it does not serve its purpose any more.

He said the recent price hike of P1 per liter takes off P60 from the drivers’ daily take home pay and they will not hesitate to file for a fare increase if the trend is left unchecked.

“If the continued price hike goes out of hand we are left with no choice but to demand for a P1 increase,” Ortega said.

He criticized the big oil players for practicing oil cartel system while the deregulation law allows them to freely tinker with the prices at will without public consultation.

UNDOC rejected the reason that demand from European and North American countries having winter season shot up the price of crude oil in the international market. 

“They (oil companies) should not have increased the prices of oil anymore since these big countries where the huge demand is coming already have stocks in their warehouses in anticipation of winter,” Ortega said in the press release.*

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