MANILA, Philippines -- The Consumer and Oil Price Watch plans to pursue ?remedies? in the Senate and House of Representatives to help address the continuing increase in the prices of petroleum products.

In a letter to Energy Secretary Angelo T. Reyes, COPW chair Raul T. Concepcion said one of the remedies proposed by the group was the transfer of oversight functions of the Department of Energy to the Energy Regulatory Commission.

The ERC, he said, would be able to ?dictate pump prices based on world market prices.?

?Despite the fact that the Deregulation Law provides safeguards to consumers, our course of action is to meet the House and Senate Committee on Energy (for) various proposals to transfer the powers of the DOE to the ERC,? Concepcion explained.

According to Concepcion, the energy chief has already explained that the DOE cannot dictate oil pricing and that market competition ultimately determines it, especially since the local oil industry has been deregulated by virtue of the Downstream Oil Deregulation law (RA 8479).

In April alone, local oil companies hiked prices of gasoline four times, by as much as P2.50-P3 a liter. It had also raised prices of diesel and kerosene three times by a total of P3.25 a liter and P2.75 a liter, respectively.

A rollback was also implemented once this month (April 8), which reduced prices of diesel and kerosene by P1 a liter and of gasoline, by 50 centavos a liter.

Oil firms earlier explained that the more frequent price movements were part of the agreement the companies made with the Department of Energy. They all agreed to adjustments on a weekly basis to reflect actual movements in the world market.

Concepcion also urged the establishment of a strategic petroleum reserve, where the government could draw oil and petroleum products to be sold to the public, especially when oil companies were determined to sell at prices higher than real ?market prices.?

Data from the Department of Energy showed that the regional benchmark Dubai crude rose to $51 a barrel as of April 17, compared to the previous month?s average level of $46 a barrel.

Similarly, the price of unleaded gasoline based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) benchmark for refined petroleum products rose to a $62-a-barrel average as of April 17, from the $54-a-barrel average in March. -- Amy R. Remo