5 senators back protest in Negros vs oil prices

Five senators are taking up the cudgels for Negrenses who have been complaining about being charged higher for fuel than consumers in Cebu and Metro Manila.

Senators Grace Poe, Sergio Osmeña III and Nancy Binay questioned Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla on the fuel price disparity at a budget hearing in the Senate on Tuesday.

Poe said she asked Petilla to submit an explanation in writing. She pointed out that fuel prices in Negros Occidental are P5 higher per liter than in Metro Manila.

Osmeña, however, said he was exasperated with the inability of the Department of Energy (DOE) to give adequate answers to the questions during the budget hearing.

“Evenly, the secretary (Petilla) was hard pressed to give an intelligent answer to it. Not even a market-oriented explanation was given,” he said.

Osmeña said Petilla simply said a fuel price watchdog had been created and that oil prices would be posted on the Internet to put pressure on those charging higher.

Negrenses have long been complaining about the higher oil prices in the province.

In a meeting with Negros congressmen last month, Director Zenaida Monzada, head of DOE Oil Industry Management Bureau, said oil prices in Manila and Cebu are lower because of stiff competition among oil industry players there, compared to Negros Occidental and other provinces.

On Monday, Poe filed a resolution urging the Senate to investigate the price disparities. She also urged the Senate to review laws on oil deregulation, which bars the government from meddling in the pricing of oil.

Senate President Franklin Drilon and Sen. Sonny Angara said they supported Poe’s resolution.

Militants have been protesting what they said were unjust increases in prices of oil and demanding that government scrap the oil deregulation law.

Protesters are pinning the blame for oil price increases on the law, which prevents government from interfering in the price levels or supply of oil.