MANILA, Philippines—To protect consumers from unwarranted increases in oil prices, the umbrella group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) and various concerned groups have pressed Congress to start hearings on proposed bills repealing or amending the Oil Deregulation Law.
In a letter to House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte, the groups stressed the urgency of the matter given the volatile fuel prices in the global market and its impact on local pump prices, amid the inability of the Department of Energy to provide a definitive formula on how oil prices should be computed.
“House Bills 4355, 4317, and 2569 all seek to provide protection to consumers from continually increasing oil prices by questioning the premise, implementation and dynamics of the oil deregulation law amid what many perceive as a cartelized oil industry,” the groups’ letter stated.
“There are valid questions as to the method of pricing of local petroleum products and its relation to global oil prices. It is also quite obvious that no real competition has taken place in the local industry,” they added.
Bayan secretary general Renato M. Reyes Jr. stressed on the urgency of starting the hearings for the amendment of the Oil Deregulation Law, as the pricing scheme for local petroleum products “remains a mystery.”
Not even the DOE, he claimed, could provide a definitive formula on the computation of prices. Thus under a deregulated regime, there is the certainty that prices can be manipulated and the people have no protection from this, according to Reyes.
“There are now at least three measures pending before the House Committee on Energy. Some were filed as early as last year. Yet to this day, no hearings have happened. The public appeals to the lawmakers to do their job in effecting legislation that would benefit the people. All we ask is for the House to take the first step and call for a hearing,” he added. The groups criticized inaction of the Committee, which has not scheduled any of the bills for a public hearing.
“Congress has held more hearings on Charter change than the proposals to amend or repeal the deregulation law, which is in fact more urgent,” Reyes added.
The appeal from various groups came less than a month after transport groups held a dialogue with Malacañang on the issue of high oil prices. The Palace was quoted in the Bayan statement as saying that there would be a review of the deregulation law although no details and timetable were offered.