Marcos: Repeal of oil deregulation law not off table

CAVITE, Philippines — President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Friday said “nothing is being discounted” in relation to proposals to repeal the oil deregulation law and remove value-added tax on fuel imports, but the government’s focus right now is immediate solutions on the impacts of rising fuel prices caused by Middle East conflict.

These remarks came after Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III filed Senate Bill No. 1984 on Tuesday seeking to repeal the 28-year-old Republic Act No. 8479 or the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act, which allowed oil companies to set the price of oil products based on market forces. In turn, the government lost its control of the pricing of petroleum products.

READ: Sotto bill seeks repeal of oil deregulation law

“As I said before, nothing is being discounted, meaning we are discussing everything that can be done so that we can do something to help alleviate the impact of the war in the Middle East,” Marcos told reporters in a media interview when asked for his thoughts about the proposals.

“But what we are focused on now is immediate; you know, amending the oil deregulation law will be a long discussion. I don’t know when it will happen,” he said.

READ: Marcos: PH has enough crude oil supply until June 30

According to Sotto, now is the perfect time to give back to the state the authority to manage fuel prices.

“Now that our petroleum prices are directly impacted by the geopolitical tension in the Middle East, transparency, scrutiny and uniformity in pricing are needed more than ever,” he said on Tuesday.

Earlier, House lawmakers from the Makabayan bloc pointed out the failure of RA 8479 saying the law did not promote competitiveness but instead  “consolidated corporate power, enabled coordinated price increases, and left the public defenseless.” /das