Successive oil price rollbacks expected to influence price of goods

MANILA, Philippines - After five successive oil price rollbacks, industry leaders on Saturday said they expect the price of commodities to also fall. “The decrease in prices will eventually filter down to the manufacturers and to the consumers," said Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI) President Jesus Arranza in an interview aired over QTV’s Balitanghali. According to GMA News reporter Julius Segovia, five rounds of oil price rollbacks have resulted in a P5.50 price cut in gasoline and P3.50 in diesel. As of Friday, gasoline prices have gone down to P55.57, diesel to P54 and kerosene to P56.91. “Nirereflect po natin kung ano ang nangyayari sa labas (We just reflect what happens outside)," said Shell spokesperson Bobby Kaapi. However, oil companies could not assure the public that oil price rollbacks would continue because of unstable oil prices in the world market and the continued weakening of the peso against the dollar. SeaOil president Glenn Yu said, “Mahirap kasi tayong magsabi ngayon kung anong mangyayari sa susunod na buwan kasi maraming mga factors na involved diyan eh (It’s hard to predict what will happen next month because many factors are involved)." Meanwhile, the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide (Piston) said over radio DZBB that the oil prices depended on oil companies and the government. Piston has called for an P11-per-liter rollback in the prices of diesel and gasoline instead of separate small price rollbacks. Piston secretary-general George San Mateo said that they will consider a nationwide transport strike if their demands are not met. As of Saturday, only Flying V has promised a one-time big-time rollback of P3 to P5/liter to be implemented on September 3. - GMANews.TV