Local oil companies are set to implement another round of increases in the pump prices of petroleum products this weekend.
Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation is set to increase prices of gasoline, diesel and kerosene by P1.50 per liter, effective 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
Chevron Philippines (formerly Caltex) and Total Philippines, meanwhile, are implementing a similar price hike at 6 a.m. the same day.
Other oil firms are expected to follow suit.
This comes even as the Department of Energy had earlier announced that the tariff on imported fuel products to zero effective June 1 to mitigate the effects of record-high oil prices in the international market.
The tariff suspension will reportedly remove at least P0.50 per liter on diesel products.
Oil firms said they need to recoup costs of P10 per liter.
Palace reiterates position on EVAT removal on oil
Malacañang meanwhile reiterated on Friday its refusal to lift the expanded value added tax (EVAT) on petroleum products.
Presidential Spokesman Ignacio R. Bunye, in a Palace statement, said that the lifting EVAT would be counter-productive to the gains from the implementation of economic reforms.
President Arroyo on Tuesday said that revenue from EVAT would be returned to the people through cash transfer loans and scholarships.
Several senators and activist organizations have been calling for either the lifting, suspension or reducing the EVAT on oil products to cushion the impact on the people of the spiraling international oil prices. With a report from Alvin Elchico, ABS-CBN News