Inquirer.net, Philippines
Militants pelt Shell building with slippers
MANILA, Philippines — Activists again stormed the main office of Pilipinas Shell in Makati City on Monday, pelting it with slippers to protest rising oil prices and call the recent diesel rollback of P1.50 per liter insignificant.
Saying women and families are the victims in the continuous oil price increases, members of the Gabriela Womens Party threw slippers at the Shell office, while Gasolinda, a satirical impersonation of the heroine of a television soap opera, danced.
We protest against the profit-hungry oil giants to save our families from hunger. The future of our families inspires us to think of creative ways to voice out our protests, said Gabriela secretary general Cristina Palabay.
Oil companies rolled back the prices of diesel by P1.50 per liter effective 12:01 a.m. today, after President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made an appeal to oil companies on Sunday.
[The recent rollback is] another Malacañang trickery to make up for Arroyos negative 38 approval ratings in the SWS [Social Weather Stations survey] and a propaganda scheme in time for her coming State of the Nation Address [SONA], Palabay said.
The P1.50 diesel price rollback is a pittance compared to the P24 total increase in oil prices this year, she added.
Palabay also blamed the three largest oil companies in the country — Shell, Petron, and Chevron — for the continuing escalation of fuel prices, saying the Big Three, aided by the Oil Deregulation Law and the Arroyo governments callousness, are unstoppable in amassing more billions by dictating the price of oil in the local market.
Citing Ibon Foundation, Palabay said in 2007 alone, Shell posted a net profit of P4.12 billion, Chevron, P2.75 billion, and Petron, P5.94 billion.
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