MANILA, Philippines?With oil companies promptly jacking up prices soon after Executive Order No. 839 was lifted Monday, Malacañang warned on Wednesday that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo would not hesitate to issue a similar order to keep firms from abusive pricing.

Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita reminded oil companies that the government was ?not left without legitimate means of (making sure) that there would be no abuses under the oil deregulation law.?

?Nothing would prevent the President from resorting again to an EO that will return the effect of 839,? he told reporters.

Ermita was reacting to the price increases oil companies implemented shortly after Arroyo lifted the weeks-long ceiling on oil prices.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Petron Corp. and three small oil players have raised the price of diesel by P2 per liter, gasoline by P1.25 to P1.50 per liter, and kerosene by P1.50 per liter.

Liquefied petroleum gas products by Shell and Petron were also expected to cost more by P2 a kilogram.

?I know that the concern of the people is with the lifting of EO 839, we are back to the essence supposedly of the oil deregulation law,? Ermita said. ?Government is not left without authority because it has the regulatory and legal power to address the problem and the oil companies know that.?

Ermita reminded oil companies that the joint task force composed of the Departments of Justice and Energy ?can always be activated to check into the unreasonable increase of prices.?

Ermita said the National Price Coordinating Council headed by the Department of Trade and Industry had deployed teams to guard against ?unreasonable? price increases, both in oil products and basic commodities.

?(It) has teams on the ground to check on the ill effects of the increase of prices of oil and fuel on the basic goods and basic commodities and if there is such an unreasonable increase, then definitely, the price team of the DTI will also take notice and take measures,? he said.

Ermita assured the public that the executive branch, mainly through the DOJ and the DOE, would continually monitor the pricing behavior in the wake of the lifting of EO 839.

He also cautioned oil companies against coming up with ?artificial shortages,? a tack apparently used to pressure the government into lifting the oil price ceiling.

?They should not announce and make artificial shortages when it?s very easy to check,? he said. ?We can always conduct our power of investigation and regulation.?