Urban poor group calls to nationalize oil industry

PRESS RELEASE
25 January 2012


MANILA, Philippines--"Sec. Almendras' effort remains lacking, and only defends the very existence of foreign companies who amass billions of pesos from the poor Filipinos."

This is the statement of Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay) on the approval by Sec. Jose Rene Almendras to put a ceiling on the profits of oil companies operating in the Philippines.

In September last year, Sen. Antonio Trillanes IV filed Senate Bill 2959 proposing a 12 percent cap on the annual profits of oil companies.

Kadamay strongly rejected the proposed bill for "it is only a greed-moderation mechanism, as how senator-author has called it."

"Why give the greedy oil companies any chance at all to take part of the measly wage and income of poor Filipinos?" Kadamay national secretary-general Gloria Arellano asked.

"The only way to end the greed of the oil companies is to kick them away to countries where they came from, and nationalize the oil industry," Arellano added.

The group recently slammed the Department of Energy's E-Trike program which the agency claimed could buffer the effect of unabated oil price hikes, and accused the government of diverting itself from the oil problem in the country.

This morning, militant groups will storm the South Gate of Batasan Complex to remind the congressmen of their promise to review the Oil Deregulation Law, which according to the groups has legitimized the overpricing and extensive profiteering by oil companies.

Kadamay encouraged the urban poor sector and the public to join coming people's protests to bring to its knees what it claimed as the "obvious collusion” between the oil cartel and the Aquino administration.

Kadamay will also hold localized protest actions in urban poor communities in the coming days as the price of petroleum products and the profit of oil companies keep on soaring, completely unguarded by the government. ###


Kalipunan ng Damayang Mahihirap (Kadamay)
Militant Center of Urban Poor in the Philippines
Reference: Gloria Arellano, Kadamay secretary-general (09213927457)