Consumer watchdog group calls for review of oil deregulation law

MANILA, Philippines—The consumer watchdog group Gov’t Watch is seeking an immediate review and amendment of the Oil Deregulation Law to protect Filipinos from spiraling fuel prices, which are now being driven largely by unrest in Middle East and North Africa.

Gov’t Watch, previously known as the Consumer and Oil Price Watch, said in a paid advertisement on Wednesday that the government should already step in before the oil price situation reaches “crisis levels.”

According to Gov’t Watch chair Raul T. Concepcion, the Filipino consumer was “defenseless” against the current situation of the oil industry, given similar pricing among industry players despite non-uniform pricing benchmarks. To make matters worse, the continued upheavals abroad were further driving prices up over fears of possible supply disruptions, he added.

On Tuesday, local oil companies again raised prices of gasoline and diesel by P 1.50 per liter and kerosene by P 1.25 per liter—the eighth increase since the beginning of the year. The price of diesel is now pegged at P45.55 per liter and gasoline, at P54 per liter as a result of the new round of oil price hikes.

“Gov’t Watch calls on Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras and Justice Secretary Leila de Lima to immediately mobilize the DoE (Department of Energy)-DoJ (Department of Justice) task force, implement the built-in safeguards of the Oil Deregulation Law and address this worsening situation,” Concepcion said.

Concepcion noted that the DoE must make an official pronouncement on oil price benchmarks that should be used to compute for increases or decreases in pump prices.

The DoE-DoJ joint task force must also be aware of the actual inventories of the oil companies at all times and should be mandated to announce to the public the 15-day moving average price for the oil importers and the 45-day moving average price for oil refiners.

“We maintain that the public will be more receptive and less reactionary to what may be perceived as speculative or, at worst, predatory pricing by the oil companies if they are duly informed of product inventories and the moving average price,” Concepcion said.

Other militant groups and alliances have since sought economic relief as they urged the government to start controlling fuel prices before they shoot up to record levels.

For one, the activist fisherfolk alliance Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang Mamamalakaya ng Pilipinas (Pamalakaya) renewed calls to suspend and repeal the Oil Deregulation Law, stop oil cartel from overpricing and other practice of price manipulation and scrap the 12-percent expanded value added tax (E-VAT) imposed on oil products.

Pamalakaya said the ultimate solution to oil price increases is the nationalization of the oil industry.

In the same statement, the group has also demanded anew the resignation of Energy Secretary Jose Rene D. Almendras for failing to stop the increases in local fuel prices.

According to Pamalakaya, Palace officials merely brushed off last week various groups’ calls for the resignation of Almendras for allegedly defending the price hikes implemented by local oil companies, which were accused of “exploiting” the crisis in Libya to justify the increases.

“Almendras should quit and should stop championing the cause of oil cartel for super profits. He is the secretary of oil cartel and not the 95 million Filipinos affected and inflicted by unbridled hikes in the prices of oil products,” Hicap said.

Hicap alleged that Almendras wanted to make it appear “that the country will soon face shortage in the supply of petroleum products to further justify the series of spikes in the prices of oil.”

The Department of Energy had said that it was preparing for a possible disruption in the country’s supply of oil due to the ongoing political unrest in Libya and other parts of the Middle East and the surging of the prices of oil products in the global market due to the rising tension in the Arab world.

The Pamalakaya leader added that his group will announce on Thursday a seven-point concise proposal to address the anti-people oil price hike.