A militant lawmaker on Wednesday denounced the latest big-time oil price hike, saying such will further burden poor consumers as Congress pursues the measure that increases excise tax and impose tax in some previous non-VAT oil products like diesel. “Poor consumers will likely be the most affected not only by the unabated oil price hikes and the looming tax reform law. A mere centavo increase on oil products often triggers price increase in some basic commodities, what more if the increase is more than P1?,” Anakpawis party-list Rep. Ariel Casilao said. Last Monday, oil companies announced big- time price hikes of P1.20 for diesel, P.70 for gas and P.90 for kerosene. About a week ago, oil companies jacked up the price of their oil products, P.70 for diesel, P.3 for gas and P.50 for kerosene.

Source: The Standard July 12, 2017 15:56 UTC