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Saturday, January 05, 2008
Arroyo orders holding of energy summit
MANILA -- President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on Friday ordered Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes to call an energy summit following the rise in world crude price to more than US$100 per barrel due to a drop in US stockpiles.
Press Secretary Ignacio Bunye said the President ordered Reyes to call a summit of energy stakeholders to "enhance policies and programs, attract investments in technology, launch development projects that would impact favorably on energy supplies and prices while helping significantly arrest climate change."
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Bunye also said Arroyo directed the energy department to coordinate with the trade and finance departments to "come up with recommendation on a possible reduction of tariff on oil."
The tariff on oil products stands at three percent. Reyes earlier said that the energy department is not considering tariff reduction because it would result in a P400-million revenue loss per month.
Deputy presidential spokesman Lorelei Fajardo said the energy department is not expecting an increase in local oil prices at least over the weekend. She said the US$100 per barrel oil price is the benchmark of the US but the Philippines gets its supply from Dubai.
Fajardo said the news should not cause any alarm even as she appealed to the public to avoid speculations.
"Reasonable oil price adjustment might be implemented after all increase in oil price is fairly evaluated," she said.
She added that government has taken appropriate steps to maintain local oil prices at current levels and that safety nets are being put in place to cushion the impact of a sudden price increase.
Fajardo said the energy department is coordinating with oil companies and is expecting the audit report within the month to make sure that any further increase would be "reasonable and gradual."
In a related development, Bayan Muna party-list Representative Teodoro Casiño pushed for the "immediate and necessary legislative measures in light of oil prices hitting US$100 per barrel for the first time ever."
He said: "Congress should immediately move to enact laws that will give the people immediate relief from the continuing rampant price increases in oil prices, including liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), kerosene and all other oil products. If it can railroad tax bills and other government revenue measures, there is no reason why it cannot enact House bills that aim to protect Filipino consumers from the oil price shocks in the world market."
Casiño and fellow militant party-list legislators Satur Ocampo also of Bayan Muna, Crispin Beltran of Anakpawis, and Luz Ilagan and Liza Maza of Gabriela have filed House Bill (HB) 3029 -- An Act Regulating the Downstream Petroleum Industry and for Other Related Purposes; HB 3030 -- An Act Instituting Centralized Procurement of Petroleum in the Country; and HB 3031 -- An Act Renationalizing Petron Corporation as "necessary long term measures that will address the problem of manipulative pricing schemes by oil companies." (JMR/Sunnex)For more Philippine news, visit Sun.Star Zamboanga. (January 5, 2008 issue)
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