Transport leaders should look beyond fare hikes

We call on transport leaders like Efren de Luna of the Alliance of Concerned Transport Organizations or Acto – who has proposed a fifty-centavo provisional fare hike and a P1.00 fare hike – to look beyond fare increases as a response to the recent round of increases in oil prices.

A fare increase at this time will have adverse effects on Filipino workers and the riding public in general. We have criticized the Big 3’s price increases as insensitive to the situation of the Filipino workers and people who are still reeling from the effects of typhoons “Ondoy” and “Pepeng.” A fare hike at this point will only add to the immense burden being borne by the workers and people.

A fare increase at this point will not really ease the economic problems of the country’s drivers, because it will be outpaced by increases in the prices of basic commodities caused by the oil price hikes.  

A fare hike at this point, furthermore, will only redound to the benefit of the Arroyo regime and the Big 3. The Arroyo regime will still be able to collect its 12% tongpats on oil prices via the expanded VAT, while the Big 3 will still be able to rake in its superprofits from price increases.

We denounce de Luna for his consistent push for fare hikes every time there are increases in oil prices. His latest proposal for fare hike further boosts his standing as a Malacañang boy, who at the height of Arroyo’s push for Charter change in 2006 openly declared his support for the so-called “people’s initiative.”

At a time when the overpricing and profiteering schemes of the Big 3 are being exposed to public and government scrutiny, we call on the transport sector, the Filipino workers and people to unite in addressing the central issue – the greedy profiteering of the Big 3. This is the real cause of the economic hardships being faced by the Filipino drivers, workers and people as far as high oil prices are concerned.

We should also condemn Energy Sec. Angelo Reyes for being the spokesperson of the Big 3, as well as Mrs. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for being the most servile puppet of the greedy oil giants.

What we need to do is work to push back the Big 3’s profiteering, end the deregulated mode of the oil industry – by immediately junking the Oil Deregulation Law – and nationalize the oil industry. If we fail to do this, we will be making short-sighted, stop-gap pseudo-solutions that will not last long and may even harm the Filipino drivers, workers and people. ###