Malacañang yesterday admitted it could not stop the increase in the prices of  Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and other fuel products, citing existing laws which deregulated the industry.
At a radio press briefing heard over government radio station, deputy presidential spokesman Abigail Valte said the law on deregulation restricts them from holding off movements in the pricing system.
“Again, we have an industry that is deregulated in legal nature. We will leave it to the DoE (Department of Energy) to explain the increase, how figures representing the adjustment came about on the LPG products and why such an increase took place,” Valte said.
Valte, however, assured consumers that amid price hikes, specifically that of the LPG products, are two government agencies which are taking all the necessary measures to ensure that the consumers don’t fall prey to con schemes like overpricing and unfair trade practices such as sale of products which are actually way short of what should have been bought.
Expounding further, Valte cited reports which said consumers sometimes don’t get 11 kilograms of LPG despite paying amount corresponding to 11 kilos.
Last Saturday, some LPG dealers raised the prices of their products. One firm hiked prices by P6 per kilo, adding P66 to the price of an 11-kg tank. Another jacked up its prices by P7.84 per kilo to add P86 per 11-kg tank, the reports said.
Last week, a DoE official said LPG prices may go up this month due to the prices of the commodity in the world market.
Local LPG dealers, which have imposed an average of P7 per kilo hike (which makes the 11-kilogram LPG tank cost a little less than  P800) admitted the adjusted LPG cost is already “too much” and hurting households as well as small entrepreneurs engaged in “karinderya and pondahan” businesses.
But while Valte insisted that Malacañang is doing everything it can to cushion the impact of the spate of price hikes, she said the President has directed the DoE to explain to the public why such hike has taken place even as the energy agency was told to publicize the formula in which price adjustments are computed.
In the Palace directive asking the DoE to explain to the public the latest burden on consumers, a price hike in LPG this month, Valte said the Palace cannot do much to interfere with the pricing of the products as the industry is deregulated.
Earlier, DoE Oil Industry Management Bureau director Zenaida Monsada had cited the tension in the Middle East as the reason for the expected hike.
As if the recent spate of LPG price increases is not enough, LPG prices are also expected to go up as the Christmas season nears, since there is a higher demand for it at this time of the year.