Vegetable traders feel effects of oil price freeze

As the government still mulls on the fate of the price cap imposed on petroleum products, more sectors continue to feel the effects of the reported scarcity of oil supply in Luzon. After farmers and tricycle drivers, the vegetable trade sector became the latest industry to be affected by the price freeze, according to a QTV Balitanghali report. A television report said that in Quezon province, where some gas stations claimed to have already run out of fuel supplies, vegetable vendors fear losing revenues because they could not transport their products to Metro Manila. Next to Baguio City, Quezon province is another major vegetable producer in Luzon which supplies markets in Balintawak in Quezon City and Divisoria in Manila. At the municipal public market in Sariaya, Quezon, vegetables originally scheduled to be brought to Manila on Monday have begun rotting. The fuel shortage in the area has incapacitated cargo trucks, rendering them unable to transport produce to their respective markets. Traders said they would no longer be surprised if vegetable prices would spike as a result of the oil supply scarcity in the province. Farmers and commuters not only in Quezon, but also in parts of Batangas, Albay, and portions of northern and Central Luzon have begun complaining about the supposed oil supply shortage. Tricycle operators and farm owners who use tractors said the unavailability of diesel in their areas have been hampering their operations. Price cap’s effects to be verified In the meantime, the government is still studying reports it received regarding the effects of Executive Order 839 which has frozen oil prices at October 15 levels, a Cabinet Secretary said. Only after he has verified reports will he decide whether to submit a recommendation to President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, Trade Secretary Peter Favila said on Wednesday during a meeting of the National Price Coordinating Council in Makati City. "We want to provide our people especially those hardly-hit by calamity... to feel the spirit of Christmas," Favila said in the meeting, portions of which were aired live over radio dzBB. "And everybody agreed [that] there was no iota of any doubt whatsoever that everybody [in government] likes to provide our people [with reasonable prices of commodities]," he added.

On Tuesday, President Arroyo instructed the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) to assess the state of calamity in Luzon to determine the fate of EO 839. The entire Philippines was placed under a state of calamity on October 2 as the country reeled from the effects of Tropical Storm Ondoy. Eight days later, the President lifted the state of calamity covering Visayas and Mindanao. But Luzon – site of the Philippines’ financial hub – remains a different story altogether. Critics of the "Big Three" – as what the three biggest oil companies in the country are collectively known – have claimed the apparent shortage was "artificial," and that the closing down of some gas stations was a form of protest of the "Big Three." The oil firms, however, belied these allegations. The Big Three - Pilipinas Shell, Petron Corp, and Chevron Philippines - are currently embroiled in a case filed against them before the sala of Judge Silvino Pampilo of the Manila Regional Trial Court Branch 26. Court disputes During his appearance at the oil case hearing at the Manila court Wednesday, Energy Sec. Angelo Reyes maintained there was no let up on his part in terms of monitoring oil price movement in the country. Before appearing in the court, Reyes was not present during four previous hearings. In Wednesday's hearing, Reyes also stressed to Pampilo that he was not lawyering on behalf of the major oil firms, although he refused to be cross examined, adding he was invited only as a resource speaker. The case stemmed from charges of cartelization and predatory pricing hurled by the Social Justice System against the "Big Three." The three firms have repeatedly denied the charges and said they did not violate any provisions under the Oil Deregulation Law of 1998. In a separate oil case hearing at the Makati Regional Trial Court, assistant solicitor general Marissa Macaraig-Guillen said disputes triggered by EO 839 should no longer reach the courts, because talks are ongoing between the government and the oil firms anyway. Macaraig-Guillen said she does not believe that the price freeze would translate into an oil supply shortage. Shell Pilipinas filed the petition before the sala of Makati Judge Winlove Dumayas, asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order against EO 839. Named respondents in the petition were Reyes and Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita. Artificial shortage While the government, oil firms, and concerned consumer groups battle it out in the courts, members of the transport sector chose to take things to the street. Protesters from the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Opereytor Nationwide (Piston) launched a transport caravan Wednesday morning and staged rallies in front of the headquarters of the "Big Three." Radio dzBB said the "small group" of protesters failed to breach the vicinity of the Petron Corp. office along Ayala Avenue after security guards barricaded the area. Unfazed by the security forces, Piston members, led by secretary general George San Mateo, chose to hold the program on the street instead. Piston claimed that Reyes' pronouncement last Monday that oil supply in the country would only last between eight to 13 days was what prompted oil firms to create "an artificial oil supply shortage." "Wala namang problema sa supply. Iniipit nila ang supply. Ayaw namin maalis ang price control. Gusto pa namin ma-extend ito nationwide," San Mateo said. The group also challenged President Arroyo not only to relieve Reyes from his post, but also to file charges against him. "Kung hindi umaksyon dito si Pangulong Arroyo, ibig sabihin siya ay bahagi rin ng sabwatan," San Mateo added. - GMANews.TV