The price of fuel in the Philippines has skyrocketed over the past few months. Even with the series of recent price rollbacks, gasoline has stayed just slightly below P60 per liter. That’s just about 80 km of running on a P500 fuel-up.
But lo and behold, there seems to be a sudden mushroom-like growth of gasoline stations in Davao City, much like when Davao Central Convenience Store branches started scattering all over the metro a few years ago.
In fact, my husband and I tried to count the number of gas stations along one famous street here — McArthur Highway. From Ulas to Sandawa, the total count was 13, or roughly 2 stations per kilometer. My hubby smells a delicate sniff of market exploitation, with the gas companies milking people’s money by building more gas pumping stations. But that’s just him (or so he says).
Let’s hope that the price of fuel gets a lot cheaper in the coming months. Otherwise, the prices of other basic commodities will follow suit.
