Mesa told Nikkei Asia he used to earn about 600 Philippine pesos (US$11.45) over a 12-hour shift but now takes home half or less that amount. His terminal in Quezon City normally hosts around 40 of the colourful, flamboyant minibuses that have long been a cultural symbol of the Philippines, but around half the drivers have turned to other work.
“We just want prices to go back to the way they were before,” Mesa said.
Mody Floranda, head of Piston, the jeepney drivers and operators union that is spearheading the strike, said soaring fuel prices were a “national calamity”. The group has called for a nationwide transport strike in all major cities.
On March 21, Jeepney drivers in Bacolod City and surrounding municipalities in Negros Occidental Province were the first to strike. Diego Malacad of local transport group Undoc said operations of cars known as public utility vehicles (PUVs) were completely paralysed in the provincial capital.
Protest centres were set up throughout the city for students, workers and other activists to join. Malacad said people showered the sites with rice donations. “Some protest areas were able to keep around 20 sacks of rice. That’s a big help for everyone parked at the terminal and their families,” he said.
The Department of Energy (DOE) says the surge in global oil prices was triggered by Ukraine war. With it comes the Philippines’ first double-digit increase in the cost of gasoline on March 15.
The price of diesel rose 13.15 pesos per litre and gasoline 7.10 pesos. During an 11-week string of hikes, the cost of the two fuels has risen by 30.65 pesos and 20.35 pesos, respectively.
Major oil firms like Petron and Caltex rolled back prices on Tuesday by 11.45 pesos for diesel and 5.45 pesos for gasoline — smaller cuts, however, than the most recent hike. It brings down the net increase since January to 19.2 pesos and 14.9 pesos, respectively.
DOE secretary Alfonso Cusi said that the rise in global prices was out of his country’s hands and urged citizens to “observe energy efficiency and conservation measures during this critical period”.
Floranda countered by saying that domestic laws are exacerbating fuel prices. “They’d rather we starve to death than do something about it,” he said.
He blamed the government for not repealing a law deregulating oil prices and for keeping what he said are exorbitant excise and value-added taxes.
The deregulation law was enacted in 1998 in an attempt to liberalise the entry and pricing of oil products and encourage competitive pricing. However, local think tank Ibon Foundation says it resulted in allowing monopolies to dictate fuel prices, keeping them artificially high.
“Because the oil industry in the Philippines is deregulated and depends on the international market, the onslaught of unjust prices on consumers, livelihood and the economy is harsher,” Ibon says.
Excise taxes have been progressively increased by the administration of President Rodrigo Duterte since 2017. Currently, they add an extra 10 pesos onto a litre of gasoline, and 6 pesos onto diesel. VAT adds another 12% to the total cost.
Ibon executive director Sonny Africa said he would welcome the removal of “regressive taxation”.
“The government is only as powerless as it chooses to be,” Africa told Nikkei Asia. “While it’s true that the Philippines is a price-taker in global markets, it doesn’t mean that it can’t do anything to make sure that domestic oil prices are as low and stable as possible.”
Since the latest price hike, the government has announced fuel subsidies worth 2.5 billion pesos for PUV drivers. Duterte pledged financial aid of 200 pesos monthly for around 12 million households until the end of the year but has insisted that the current tax systems will remain in place.
Floranda blasted the government for “scrimping on the people”, noting that the aid amounts to just 6.60 pesos per day, not even enough for a single jeepney ride.
In response to mounting criticism, Duterte raised the monthly aid to 500 pesos on Tuesday.
Proposals by transport groups to raise the minimum fare of jeepney rides by at least 1 peso were denied by the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board on March 18.
The agency said it “cannot be insensitive to the plight of Filipinos every time an increase in the price of commodities occurs, as there would be a domino effect to the granting of a fare increase”.
Krista Yu, a specialist in transport and industrial economics at De La Salle University, said one alternative would be for the government to direct subsidies through gas stations so that PUVs have easier access to cheaper fuel.
“Jeepneys will spend less on gas and it saves the government transaction and disbursement cost,” she said. The extra costs of implementing a programme for subsidies need to be scrutinised as well.”