Big 3 oil companies out to damage our reputation, charge LPG dealers

A lawmaker on Sunday accused the Big Three oil companies of being behind a “harassment suit” filed by the Department of Justice (DOJ) against him and his party-list group for allegedly forcing cooking gas dealers to lower their prices.

In a statement, Representative Arnel Ty of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers’ Association (LPGMA) said that the Federation of Philippine Industries (FPI), which filed a complaint with the DOJ accusing him and his group of cartelized operations in the local LPG market, was “fronting” for Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Petron Corp. and Chevron Philippines Inc.

Ty claimed the Big Three were out to “damage the reputation of independent refillers not aligned with them.”

The DOJ on Friday recommended that charges be filed against Ty and LPGMA members Danilo Chua, Alison Sy, Rene Rosell, Ronnie Sevillana, Mar Dave Tang, Virginia Cid, Bonifacio Eleria and Antonio del Rosario for “price signaling” or dictating rollbacks in prices of LPG products in violation of the  anticartel provisions of the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act.

FPI claimed that whenever Ty announced a price rollback in the media, all LPGMA members complied without question.

Ty’s chief of staff, Miguel Ponce Jr., said the suit was meant to divert the public’s attention from the growing public clamor for the big oil companies to disclose their financial records in response to allegations of overpricing of oil products.

“We don’t have a copy yet of the prosecutor’s supposed recommendation. If in fact there is one, then we intend to appeal it with  the secretary of justice,” said Ponce, who noted that the FPI had singled out the LPGMA in its complaint.

LPGMA is made up of independent LPG refillers that sell their products for P100 less (for a standard 11-kilogram cylinder) than the  big oil companies, Ponce said.

“The Department of Energy has repeatedly urged the Big Three to use the international contract price of LPG as a benchmark, but the giants have refused to comply,”  Ponce said.