By Gabriela Baron
The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority (MMDA) has observed fewer trips and a decreasing number of cars traversing the road due to the continuous oil price hike.
In the June 21 Laging Handa briefing, MMDA Chairperson Romando Artes said that while vehicle volume in EDSA had already reached above pre-pandemic levels of around 417,000 on May 5, this already dropped to 390,000 as of this week.
Artes attributed this to the rising petroleum prices.
“Noong May 5, nagbibilang po tayo ng sasakyan sa EDSA. Ang lumalabas po ay 417,000 which is above na po doon sa 405,000 na pre-pandemic level. Pero noong June 9, nagpabilang po ulit tayo ng sasakyan, ang lumabas po sa ating bilang sa EDSA ay 392,000 na lamang,” Artes continued.
“The other day, nagpabilang po tayo ulit, ang lumabas po ay 390,000 na lamang, so nabawasan pa po ng 2,000 at may kabuuan na pong kabawasan na 27,000 from the time before elections. At tingin po namin na malaking factor diyan ay ‘yung patuloy na pagtaas ng presyo ng produktong petrolyo,” he added.
Prices per liter of gasoline went up by P0.80 on Tuesday, diesel by P3.10, and kerosene by P1.70.
Diesel prices rose by over P13 in the past three weeks, while the cost of diesel went up by P4.30 last week. – ag
