MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers on Tuesday chastised oil companies for “hostaging” the government when they raised the threat of dwindling oil supply to pressure Malacanang to lift the imposed ceiling on prices of oil in Luzon.

And instead of doing something to avert a shortage, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes simply echoed the warning of oil firms, creating panic among the public, lawmakers complained.

Reyes on Monday had said that the country’s inventory of finished petroleum products would run out after 13 days.

The imposition of Executive Order 839 prompted some of the smaller oil firms to either curb or withhold importation to avoid incurring huge losses that they cannot absorb, unlike the big oil firms.

EO 839, which took effect October 24, mandated that fuel prices in Luzon be brought back to their October 15 levels amid the damage brought about by the recent typhoons.

Reyes had said the average inventory for the year was usually at least 21 days for finished products—gasoline, diesel and kerosene, liquefied petroleum gas, and bunker fuel.

But he was referring only to his department’s estimates of the country’s inventory of imported finished petroleum products, and did not take into account the refiners’ crude oil inventory, which can later be processed into finished products.

Only Petron Corp. and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. refine crude oil in the country into gasoline, diesel, and other petroleum products.

Speaker Prospero Nograles said Reyes’s statement “would cause some kind of panic button for consumers.”

“I wish he would just have solved the problem in his level as that is his job than put out statements like that in a press conference,” Nograles said in a text message.

Anakpawis party list Representative Joel Maglunsod said oil companies should stop “hostaging” oil supply in the country, adding that the shortage scenario was just being “fabricated” to force the government to lift the ceiling on oil prices.

“We cannot tolerate this Mafia-style blackmailing by oil companies. Cartel operations must stop.”

Maglunsod said Reyes clearly showed his bias towards the oil firms by echoing their threat that supply is dwindling.

According to him, the consumers are blind to the real supply level of oil products because the Department of Energy “failed to exercise its power over oil companies to strictly monitor imported crude and refined oil products.”

Under the oil deregulation law, DoE is required to maintain a periodic schedule of present and future inventory of petroleum products to determine the level of supply, he said.

Section 8 of DoE Circular 2003-01-001 requires all oil companies submit to DoE’s Oil Industry Management Bureau weekly reports, prepared under oath, of their inventory on a per crude and per product basis including their actual and projected importations and local purchases.

Paranaque Representative Roilo Golez said Reyes should have “hollered” long time ago when the supply level got close to just 30 days.

“Under the existing energy supply doctrine, safe level should be around 50 to 60 days. It takes at least 30 days from date of order to delivery. Reyes should have hollered when level got close to 30 days and not only now,” said Golez, a former national security adviser.

“This is gross negligence on his part and calls for his moral seppuku,” he added.

Bayan Muna Representative Satur Ocampo said the current situation shows the danger of deregulation, saying that the existing law “deprives government effective and decisive action to restrain price hikes and ensure enough supply at all times.”

Ocampo said the government must compel the oil companies to refine more crude oil to meet demands while EO 830 is in effect.

“The long term solution is to repeal the oil deregulation act, enact crude procurement law, and return Petron to state control,” he said.