Unioil

Unioil Petroleum Philippines, Inc. is not closing its doors to another fuel price reduction even as it is still receiving praise for its “big time” rollback earlier this week.

Chito Medina-Que Jr., Unioil general manager, said another cutback would be forthcoming if world prices for crude continue to fall.

“We are dependent on the world market and right now there is a downtrend,” Que said. “Kung magtuloy-tuloy yan ay maibababa pa natin.”

On Monday afternoon, Unioil’s retail branches slashed gasoline price by a P4.75 a liter; diesel by P3.50 a liter and kerosene by P1.50 a liter.

This came on the heels of a smaller rollback by the “Big Three” oil firms Pilipinas Shell, Petron Corp., and Chevron Philippines during that weekend reducing pump prices by a uniform P1.50 a liter.

At least three other smaller players copied the weekend price movement. Unioil is also a small player by industry standards, with around 40 retail branches.

Consumers and government officials alike have since clamored for the oil giants to enforce a more substantial price cutback, but they are not budging.

For Que, however, the big price cut proved rewarding to his company.

“Biglang nag-surge ang demand sa aming outlets. Meron pa ngang nag-emergency delivery kase halos tuyot na ang supply. Mabilis ang turnover ng sales namin ngayon,” he said.

Department of Energy (DoE) Undersecretary Zenaida Monsada said that there should be another rollback on fuel this week as previous ones were “not enough” to reflect the world crude price drop.

Meanwhile, Independent Sen. Francisco Pangilinan asked on Wednesday the country’s Big Three oil companies – Petron, Shell and Chevron (Caltex) – to follow Unioil’s lead in substantially rolling back its gasoline and diesel prices “lest they incur the wrath of consumers through a boycott.”

Pangilinan made the call after Unioil, the small oil distributor, made a dramatic cut in its gasoline and diesel prices by as much as P4 a liter. Unioil’s move followed a series of small fuel oil price cuts by the Big Three.

The former Senate Majority Leader also dared Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes to do his work or “study the possibility of resigning from his job.”

Opposition Sen. Francis Escudero shared the view of Pangilinan and Socio-Economic Planning Secretary Ralph G. Recto that Reyes should resign for failing to keep the oil companies from marking their prices too high.

Escudero said Malacañang should consider replacing Reyes with one who has no political ambitions, referring to reports that Reyes is keen on running for a mayoralty post in the Metro Manila area.

He criticized the Department of Energy (DoE) for being a reactionary on oil price matters.

He also chided Reyes for failing to force the Big Three to open their books, a move initiated by Reyes almost three years ago but remained unfulfilled.

“Ang apat na pisong rollback ng Unioil ay patunay na kayang mag-one time rollback ang oil companies na hindi magresulta sa pagkalugi at pagsara ng kanilang kumpanya. Patunay ito na kaya ng mga ito na bawasan ang presyo habang kumikita pa rin sila,’’ Pangilinan said. (Unioil’s price roll back showed that the Big Three, if they follow its lead, would not result in their profit loss or closure of their business.)

Pangilinan said the lowering by the Big Three of their fuel prices would help ease the plight of the Filipino public and “not doing so would be risking themselves to facing boycotts of their establishments.”

The former Senate Majority Leader said that it is public knowledge that the major oil companies are not leading to bankruptcy but those severely affected is the Filipino people.

“Kung hindi sila susunod sa pagbagsak ng presyo eh dapat i-boykot ang major players at sa maliliit tayo magpa-gasolina bilang protesta,’’ he said.