THE leadership of the House of Representatives said on Monday that lawmakers can closely work with oil players to ease the impact of increasing oil prices, but cautioned against taking measures against uncooperative firms.
In a statement following their closed-door meeting with the Department of Energy and oil firms, Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez appealed to key players in the oil industry to share the burden of rising prices of petroleum products, which affect ordinary Filipinos.
Romualdez, accompanied by other House members, made the appeal during a consultative meeting to explore strategies to tackle the continuing rise in fuel prices.
“If you are part of the solution, Congress will be very appreciative and supportive of you. But if you are part of the problem, we might have to undertake measures that would be unpalatable to you,” said Romualdez, leader of the 311-member House.
“I hope we can work together to help our people,” said Romualdez.
Cut profit
During the meeting, Romualdez asked oil firms to find ways to cut their profit margins to reduce fuel prices.
Representatives from the oil industry said they would relay the Speaker’s appeal to their principals, who can decide on any commitment they can make in the next consultative meeting.
Among the possible courses of action tackled at the meeting is the proposal of SAGIP Rep. Rodante Marcoleta to revisit the Oil Deregulation Law, as he noted that there is no transparency in the pricing scheme of oil industry players.
He noted that oil players sought and obtained a temporary restraining order (TRO) against the DOE circular requiring oil firms to submit detailed computations with corresponding explanations and supporting documents on the reasons for any movement of their oil prices.
House Committee on Appropriations Senior Chairman Stella Luz Quimbo noted that oil companies would usually submit to the DOE practically the same price adjustments “up to the last decimal point.”
“There is no reason why you would have the same weekly price adjustments,” she said.
She proposed that the DOE discard the practice of submitting price adjustment schemes weekly and instead just allow oil firms to make such submissions when it becomes necessary for each of them to increase prices or implement a rollback.
Meanwhile, Romualdez assured the oil industry that the House is open to hearing other alternative options to address the steady rise in oil prices that has strained household budgets, including possible adjustments to fuel taxation policies.
“We want to make sure that we can bring to the Filipino people a very safe, secure supply of oil products at very reasonable and realistic prices,” Romualdez said.
The meeting also included DOE officials, led by Undersecretary Sharon Garin, and representatives from the oil industry players such as Petron Corp., Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., and the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association, as well as officials from Chevron Philippines Inc., the Philippine Institute of Petroleum, Flying V, and Total Philippines Corp.
11th oil price hike
For her part, Assistant Minority Leader and Gabriela Women’s Party Rep. Arlene Brosas is batting for the certification as urgent of bills seeking to lower the prices of petroleum products, including the bill scrapping excise tax and value-added tax on oil.
The lawmaker made the call as the country braces for the eleventh consecutive oil price hike taking effect on September 19, which could bring the price of diesel to as high as P70 per liter.
“Oil taxes must be scrapped at the soonest time to bring urgent relief to Filipinos, especially as world oil prices are set to further escalate in the coming months,” said Brosas.
“We filed House Bill 400 seeking to scrap the TRAIN Law excise tax and VAT on petroleum products as our first priority measure for the 19th Congress. We challenge the Marcos Jr. administration to certify it as urgent,” she added.
The lawmaker said the price of diesel could be slashed by P15 per liter if the measure is enacted.
The Makabayan bloc also filed bills that will strategically make oil prices cheaper, particularly the regulation of the downstream oil industry, the bill unbundling petroleum prices, the bill renationalizing Petron, and the bill instituting centralized procurement of oil products.
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