MANILA, Philippines--Malacañang Saturday belittled the petition filed by Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. seeking to stop the implementation of the cap on fuel prices in Luzon, and vowed to go ahead with the oil price freeze unless stopped by the courts.

“That is the right of Shell under the law to seek redress for imagined grievances as it is also the right of the people to complain against what they feel are opportunistic tendencies of these big companies, as it is the responsibility of the government to protect the interest of the greater number of people,” Press Secretary Cerge Remonde said over radio station dzRB.

Remonde said Shell’s petition was “welcome” if only to put the cap issue to rest, but indicated that the executive branch wasn’t backing down from Executive Order No. 839 which froze oil prices in Luzon at their Oct. 15 levels.

“Malacañang is standing by what it is doing for the good of the greatest number of our people. These oil companies should listen to the sentiments of the people,” he said.

Shell petitioned the Makati Regional Trial Court to stop the executive branch and the Department of Energy from implementing what the oil firm argued was an unconstitutional order.

EO 839, issued on Oct. 23, put a cap on fuel prices in Luzon which President Macapagal-Arroyo placed under a state of calamity in the aftermath of two powerful storms.

EO justified

Contrary to Shell’s claim, presidential legal counsel Raul Gonzalez said EO 839 was based on Section 17 of Article XII of the Constitution which states: “In times of national emergency, when the public interest so requires, the State may, during the emergency and under reasonable terms prescribed by it, temporarily take over or direct the operation of any privately owned public utility or business affected with public interest.”

“In the EO, the President did not invoke that provision. But this EO falls within the ambit of this provision... It’s justified because we were visited by calamities,” Gonzalez said in a phone interview.

Roberto Kanapi, Shell vice president for communications, had argued that the EO did not meet the conditions prescribed by the Constitution for determining the exceptional circumstances that would warrant the Chief Executive’s exercise of emergency powers.

Ms Arroyo, its petition said, “unilaterally determined the existence of exceptional circumstances...”

The broader, the better

Meanwhile, professor Gary Olivar, presidential economic spokesperson, backed the National Economic and Development Authority’s recommendation to Ms Arroyo to expand the composition of the Department of Energy-Department of Justice Task Force on Oil Deregulation to include the Neda, Department of Finance and Department of Trade and Industry.

“The broader the representation, the better. That means better quality inputs for the President,” Olivar said in a phone interview on Friday.

Neda Director General and acting Socioeconomic Planning Secretary Augusto Santos made the recommendation in an Oct. 22 memorandum to Ms Arroyo. He, however, conceded that expanding the task force would require amending the Oil Deregulation Law.