Bayan Muna seeks transparency on fuel costs anew as oil price hike looms

A gas attendant fills up a gas tank at a gasoline station in Quezon City, a day ahead of bigtime price hike on September 23, 2019. INQUIRER PHOTO / NINO JESUS ORBETA

MANILA, Philippines — Bayan Muna partylist has urged the Department of Energy (DOE) to implement the unbundling of fuel costs as another oil price hike looms.

In a statement on Monday, former Bayan Muna lawmaker Carlos Zarate said the DOE should implement clear guidelines for oil price unbundling, or the publication of reasons for the price increases and their exact contribution to a fuel’s cost per liter.

“It’s already March 2025, as oil companies announce another round of price increases, the unbundling of oil prices is yet to be seen,” Zarate said.

“The price of fuel in gas stations consists of international price, local cost, and net profit. Oil companies do not unbundle and divulge the details of their local cost, making it difficult for the public to see their overcharges in price per liter here. Congress should fast track House Bill 3004 so that consumers would finally see the oil pricing processes,” he added.

Oil companies announced that they would increase per liter the prices of gasoline by P1.10, while diesel and kerosene would spike by P0.40.

While a rollback was implemented last week, since the start of 2025, prices of gasoline have increased by P2.15 per liter, and diesel by P2.85 per liter.

READ: Gasoline, diesel, kerosene prices up this week

According to Zarate, other companies in the energy sector have already unbundled their prices, like Manila Electric Company (Meralco), but oil firms have kept their pricing a secret.

“But for oil products, it has not been done; that’s why it’s easy to overcharge once the international price increases,” he said in Filipino.

“There have been several oil price increases but the government’s action has been left behind. The DOE appears to be acting more like spokespersons of oil companies rather than regulators protecting public interest,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino.

Zarate also said that under Republic Act No. 8479 or the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998, the DOE can “investigate oil industry practices.”

In July 2024, the Supreme Court rejected the petition of oil companies to block the DOE from implementing a 2019 directive that requires firms to “unbundle” or disclose detailed price adjustments.

In the 24-page decision penned by Associate Justice Ramon Hernando, the high tribunal found it “hard to believe” that oil prices were arbitrarily set without any basis.

“Verily, there is a systematic calculation or process on how they set their prices, and it is such information that the DOE needs to collect in order for it to accomplish its mandate under Republic Act No. 8479,” it said.

READ: SC junks oil firms’ bid vs gov’t order to detail their pricing

Zarate said it is puzzling why the government still does not move to know the actual cost of fuel products.

“For more than 20 years after the oil deregulation law, the government does not know the actual cost of fuel and is therefore not capable of determining predatory pricing or overpricing. This is the tragic folly of deregulation,” he said.

“Nobody knows what PHP60.00 per liter consists of and how much profit is imposed.  The oil companies must inform DOE and the public of their actual costs — from refining, storage, transportation, to operating expenses.  Transparency is crucial, especially now when every centavo counts in the shrinking budget of consumers,” he added.

This is not the first time that Zarate and Bayan Muna called for government intervention on price hikes.

In 2019, Zarate called for the unbundling of data on oil prices as they feared that attacks on two major oil sites in Saudi Arabia may be used to justify high price hikes.

READ: Bayan Muna wants oil price data unbundled amid Saudi oil sites attack

Zarate reiterated this call in June 2021, as during that time, gasoline prices rose by P11.75 per liter since the year started, followed by diesel at P9.90 per liter, and kerosene at P8.41 per liter.