Wednesday, August 04, 2004 Palace mum on proposal to buy Petron
* Cabinet trying to cushion adverse effects of oil price hikes, says Bunye
MALACAÑANG is silent on proposals to buy back the government's shares in Petron to help cushion the continuing increase in the prices of oil and other petroleum products.
Presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye said they have heard of the proposal of Senate President Franklin Drilon, but the proposal is best left to the Department of Energy (DOE), which must first study it.
"This is something that's better addressed by the DOE. They have better understanding and they have a better feel of the situation," he said.
Asked if the government now sees anything wrong in the earlier decision to privatize Petron, Bunye said "That is something that has already happened."
Bunye said the important thing at present is to come up with more doable steps to cushion the impact of the recent hikes.
He said the government has already asked the different oil companies to justify the computation of their proposed price increases and conduct dialogues with different transport groups, retailers groups and manufacturing groups to ensure that there would be no undue increases in the price of prime commodities.
"The Cabinet is doing all it can to cushion the adverse effects of the new round of oil price hikes. The main points of focus are the transport, manufacturing and consumer sectors. Price monitoring of prime commodities is in place. Active dialogs with manufacturers and producers are ongoing to temper price increases," he added.
The three big oil firms, Petron, Caltex and Shell, had increased the prices of oil by 50 centavos over the weekend while the new oil players are planning a 60 -centavo to 70-centavo hike.
The increase is attributed to continued increase in the price of oil in the world market and the increased demand of some countries for petroleum products.
The oil price rose to US$44 per barrel from US$43.88 last week after the US raised its alert status to orange following new threats from the al-Qaeda. JMR
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