Upcoming LPG price hikes will absorb measly wage adjustments

Labor group Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) today said that the P25 wage adjustment approved by the NCR regional wage board as well as other upcoming wage hikes to be issued by various regional wage boards will only go to paying higher oil prices, particularly for the consumption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) which are scheduled to increase by as much as P22 per 11 kilogram tank starting tomorrow.

"Whatever wage adjustments that workers will receive will only be absorbed by the rising cost of petroleum products and as an automatic effect, subsequent increases in other basic goods and services. While workers have yet to benefit from the paltry wage adjustments, big and small oil companies are once more racing against each other in hiking their pump prices," said KMU Women Department Secretary Nenita Gonzaga.

"Profiteering is the main reason for the upcoming LPG price hike. How can oil companies justify the upcoming LPG price increase when the Contract Price (CP) of LPG (at 30% propane and 70% butane) for June 2006 remains the same as the previous month at $470/metric ton."

Woman labor leader Gonzaga, a mother herself who tends the budgetary needs of her family's household, shares the sentiments of other Filipinos especially mothers who are expected to suffer most from the upcoming LPG price hike.

She said that the impending LPG price hike will severely affect working mothers and ordinary housewives who are tending the daily budget for their families' food expenses and other household expenditures. "It is very hard to make do with a very limited household budget. To be able to stretch our means, we are forced to lessen our daily budget for food. Instead of providing nutritious and sufficient food requirements for our families, mothers often buy instant foodstuff like noodles, canned goods including sardines and other 'no cook' foodstuff.

Based on the Department of Energy's (DoE), price monitor, as of June 25, the prevailing prices of LPG in Metro Manila is between P440 to P490 plus 12-percent value-added tax or VAT per 11-kg cylinder. According to the LPG Marketers Association, LPG prices will increase by as much as P512 to P530 per 11-kg cylinder.