MANILA, Philippines -- Lawmakers called on the need for government to exercise control over oil companies to curb the unabated oil price hikes.

Quezon Rep. Lorenzo Tanada III, chairman of the House committee on human rights, and Quezon City Representative Matias Defensor, chairman of the House justice committee, made the call on Thursday in the wake of another demand for an increase in the minimum fare for public utility vehicles by some transport groups.

Tanada said the government should buy back the 40 percent share of Petron Corp. currently held by Saudi Aramco. SEA Refinery Holdings, a company owned by the Ashmore Group PLC in London, had earlier offered to buy the Aramco block.

"I came out as early as last month (that I am) against the sale to a foreign entity. Again, dapat ang ginawa ng ating gobyerno, dapat tayo ang bumili uli ng shares ng Petron (What the government should have done is buy back the shares of Petron). This will be the check-and-balance that we are looking for in the runaway prices of oil," he said in a forum in Quezon City.

Tanada said government control over Petron, one of the biggest oil companies in the country, is needed to hold back local oil prices because international oil prices are projected to rise up to $160 per barrel by the end of the year.

Defensor is also keen on government control of oil, citing the Philippine Constitution which gives the President power to take over public utilities when public interest dictates.

Defensor said the unabated price hike of basic commodities during a global food crisis must be addressed immediately.

Oil and energy companies, he said, should not close their doors to crude and energy exploration in the Philippines because high oil prices in the global market will compensate for the high cost of oil exploration and extraction.

In the same forum, Alliance of Concerned Transport Operators president Efren de Luna said transport groups are ready to stage a nationwide transport strike to intensify the call for a P1.50 fare hike in public utility jeepneys and buses.

De Luna said the P1.50 increase in minimum fare is reasonable, explaining that the last fare hike was still in 2003 when oil product prices were P20 less than present prices. Contributed by Nicole Arce