Romualdez urges oil firms to help address price hikes

  

MANILA, Philippines —  Oil companies must share the burden with the public affected by rising fuel prices, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said on Monday after a closed-door meeting with oil company executives.

“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,” Romualdez said in a statement.

“I hope we can work together to help our people,” he added.

On Tuesday, oil companies are expected to raise fuel prices again – gasoline fuel by P2 per liter, diesel by around P2.50 per liter, and kerosene by P2 per liter.

With this, the per liter price of gasoline is likely to push near P70 per liter, while diesel may range from P70 to P75 per liter.

Romualdez said that the oil industry executive and representatives assured him that they would relay the appeal for lower oil prices.

Romualdez also assured the oil firms that the House of Representatives  is open to hearing other alternatives to address the sharp rise in prices.

“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,” he said.

In a press briefing that followed the meeting between Romualdez, other House leaders and the oil companies’ representatives, ACT-CIS party-list Rep. Erwin Tulfo revealed that a lawmaker suggested that Congress now revisit the Oil Deregulation Law — which hinders government from taking a look at the details of oil prices.

“It was discussed earlier, one of the lawmakers suggested that it’s high time that we review the Oil Deregulation Law because it was one of the questions asked by the speaker — that why are oil companies selling fuel at high prices when it was purchased at a lower cost,” Tulfo said.

“They were not able to answer that’s why one of the congressmen suggested to the speaker that ‘we really have to review this oil deregulation law if this is the case, if we would seem like we are making fools out of each other’.  But the Speaker said that we should talk to the principals, their bosses, because the people we talked to earlier don’t seem to have the authority to make a decision for the entire company,” Tulfo added.

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