A P3 per liter increase starting today will
place the price of diesel, the fuel used by jeepneys and buses,
on the same level as those of gasoline.
Unleaded gasoline costs P58.75 to P60.57 a
liter. With the P3 increase, diesel will cost P57.48 to P59.47 a
liter.
Small oil firms Seaoil, Eastern Petroleum,
Flying V, and Unioil announced the increase in diesel prices.
The majors Petron, Shell and Caltex are expected to follow.
No increases were announced for gasoline, the
second week so far that gasoline prices were frozen.
Last weekend, oil companies rolled back their
gasoline prices by P1 a liter, saying they had recovered cost of
the gasoline component of rising crude. Before this, the last
rollback was in February, by 50 centavos for both gasoline and
diesel.
Oil firms still claim a P2 per liter under-recovery for
diesel and this is expected to be passed on to consumers in the
next weeks. - Myla Iglesias
