GAS PRICES

i spoke with a friend last night and she's a station owner of one of the big three oil companies in the country. She was complaining about how the Senate of the Philippines decided to burden the station owners with a new round of taxes (EVAT). Now don't get me wrong. I'm disappointed with the round of oil price hikes myself but knowing my friend, she's really not happy about what's happening. If this new round of taxes are imposed on the stations, pump prices, rightly predicted by mr. consumer-watch joe Concepcion, would jack up to about P50.00 to 55.00 per liter. Wow! That is about 4 liters of every P200.00. And how much does an average worker earn? You mean we have to spend about P200.00 a day just for gas? Sure sure, mag-commute tayo, you say... pero ganoon din... fare is as expensive na rin... I urge Senator Recto, please.... reconsider the burden you will eventually put on the consumer if you tax the station owners exhorbitantly. I am sure you are not stupid or gullible enough to believe that none of these taxes will affect the consumers. Remember, we are the end user here. Papaano kikita ang oil giants? syempre in the end, it's the end user who carries the burden. Back to my friend: she is seriously considering closing her station, and so are other station owners as well. Thinking of the worst-case scenario, she believes that should the prices go up to P50-55 pesos per liter in July, the people will not take this sitting down and massive civil unrest will be in the offing. Let us pray she's worng.