CHAIRMAN Thompson Lantion of the Land Transportation and Franchising Regulatory Board (LTFRB) admitted that he sees no need for a fare increase next year among public buses and jeepneys if oil companies will continue to roll back prices of petroleum products as the small players among them have begun doing.

In a talk to newsmen here, Lantion announced that the independent oil players have just rolled back their prices and he hopes that the big players will follow soon.

“If the oil players will continue to roll back their prices, then the fare will have to be maintained or possibly even reduced”, Lantion said

Confirming that the hearing of the fare hike petition at his office is on January 10, Lantion cited the good example of Unioil which rolled back by 50 centavos per liter the price for diesel and P1 per liter for gasoline.

Lantion joined Ms. Esther P. Magleo, president of the Unioil Philippines Inc. in accompanying Ambassador Abdulla Ahmed Y.A. Al-Mutawaa of the State of Qatar in a whirlwind visit to Alaminos City and the Hundred Islands on Thursday.

In their petition to LTFRB, different groups of jeepney drivers and operators are seeking from P1 to P1.50 increase in the fare per kilometer and P2.50 per kilometer for buses.

Lantion said no less than President Arroyo thanked the independent oil players for the rollback and was expecting that the big players will also follow so fare increase that would surely hurt the masses dependent on the public transport system can be avoided.

The independent players, particularly Eastern Petroleum, said that if the price of oil in the world market will be maintained, they will also maintain their prices and even roll back their prices more, he announced.