MANILA, Philippines--Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago on Tuesday proposed a government takeover of oil companies amid threat of a possible oil shortage because of the government?s imposition of oil price control.

?Take over the oil companies. That?s provided for by our Constitution. Meron naman tayong genuine calamity or emergency (we actually have a calamity or emergency),? Santiago told reporters.

?The government can simply run their companies for them. That?s the power of our Philippine President given by the Constitution, no less, not by the Congress, ? she pointed out.

Under the Constitution, Santiago said, the government can take over utility firms in cases of emergency or public calamities.

She said she would have favored a selective imposition of oil price control only in areas affected by recent typhoons had not Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes warned of a dwindling oil supply because of the oil price freeze imposed by the government.

Santiago chided Reyes for ?lawyering? for the oil firms and called for his resignation.

?That is (oil shortage) what Secretary Reyes predicted so in effect he is helping make true what he has warned us against. Why is he lawyering for the oil firms?? she asked.

As a member of President Macapagal-Arroyo?s Cabinet, Reyes should be supporting the President on this issue, and not the oil companies.

?Why is he (Reyes) so prejudiced against his own President? If he can?t agree with her policies, then he should quit, that?s the honorable thing to do,? she said.

Santiago said the oil firms were playing ?oil politics? by bluffing the government so the President would give in into their pressure.

Senate President Juan Ponce-Enrile and Senator Aquilino Pimentel both agreed that to resolve this conflict, the government should be the one to import oil using its own resources.

?The only resolution is for the government to import if they have the money to import and the mechanism to import,? Enrile said in a separate interview.

But he warned that the prices of oil would be higher if the importation would be done by the government.

Another problem, he said, would be the mechanics of oil distribution.

?How would you distribute it? These players are the owners of the retail outlets, the gasoline stations,? he pointed out.

Pimentel believed that the threat of oil shortage was just ?artificial? because the oil firms only refused to import oil unless the government lifted the oil price cap.