Petron says oil price rollback was 'marketing decision'

MANILA, Philippines - It was purely a regular '"marketing decision." This was the statement of oil giant Petron Corp belying earlier reports that their planned P2 per liter rollback was in response to the urgent calls of various transport groups pressing oil firms to cut back further on their pump prices. "Contrary to some preliminary reports, our price adjustment scheduled for midnight has nothing to do with the clamor from certain groups," Petron public affairs officer Raffy Ledesma told GMANews.TV in a text message. Ledesma said that whether or not the band of transport groups pushed through with its transport strike Friday, they would have adjusted their prices anyway since they had been planning to do it for the last few days. "We have been mulling a rollback for the past few days and this is purely a marketing decision," Ledesma clarified. Aside from Petron, fellow "Big Three" giant Shell Pilipinas and independent oil firm Eastern Petroleum would also reduce their pump prices also by P2 per liter starting 12:01 Saturday. Shell's rollback would cover gasoline, diesel, and kerosene, while Eastern Petroleum's would only include gasoline and diesel. But even before these three oil companies could adjust their prices, Seaoil had already gone ahead and rolled back their diesel prices by P2 per liter. On Wednesday and Thursday, Eastern Petroleum and UniOil Petroleum Philippines Inc respectively rolled back their automobile-liquefied petroleum gasoline (auto-LPG) prices by P1 per liter. In addition, UniOil also slashed the price of their kerosene products by a substantial P7.60 per liter. The transport caravan – led by the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) and Pasang Masda – started in Quezon City and proceeded in the main offices of "Big Three" Shell, Petron, and Chevron (which operates Caltex). The transport groups said that while they have promised to keep the remaining days of the Yuletide season transport protest-free, they would carry over their demonstrations to 2009. Piston secretary general George San Mateo said in a radio dzBB interview that, "Ito ay puwede nating sabihing the calm before the storm (You can say what we're doing now is the calm before the storm)."- Mark Merueñas, GMANews.TV