Consumers across the country will pay heftier prices on petroleum products starting Tuesday after major oil players announced separate price hikes, with diesel rising by P2.60 per liter and kerosene by P2.80 per liter.
On the other hand, gasoline prices will have the slightest upward movement at only P0.70 per liter.
The announcements came as school classes resumed, pushing passenger demand up, but the fare matrix remained unchanged. The upward movement breaks the seven-week streak of price declines.
“The new round of oil price hike will impact our drivers because they will have to shell out additional pesos for their fuel expenses when they only earn enough and sometimes even little every day,” transport group PISTON president Mody Floranda said in an interview on Monday.
With the reopening of more pre-pandemic jeepney routes, Floranda noted that about 3,000 additional units would ply around the metro.
Last week, diesel prices were cut by P1.05 per liter, gasoline by P0.10 per liter, and kerosene by P0.45 per liter.
The latest data from the Department of Energy showed that as of 16 August, the cumulative increase in diesel prices stood at P29.10 per liter, gasoline at P17.45 per liter, and kerosene at P24.30 per liter since the start of this year.
The prices per liter of gasoline range from P65.05 to P75.76 per liter in Quezon City, the largest city in Metro Manila.
Meanwhile, diesel prices in Makati City range from P71.90 to P78.30.
In the country’s capital city of Manila, kerosene prices sell between P73.44 and P85 per liter.
Oil companies announce price adjustments every Monday to be implemented the following morning.
The prices are adjusted weekly based on the movement of the Mean of Platts Singapore — the regional pricing benchmark adopted by the deregulated downstream oil sector.