THE House committee on energy has deferred deliberations on bills to repeal the Oil Deregulation Law, while waiting to hear from two executive departments and an association of operators and drivers.
One report the House wants is a comprehensive study on the feasibility of using natural gas as an oil substitute, said Rep. Raul del Mar (Cebu City, north), a committee member.
Principal authors of House Bills (HB) 173, 174, 176 and 255 have underscored the need for Congress to repeal the deregulation law, which they say has failed to address keep fuel prices from rising.
“They contended that the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Law further strengthened collusion in dictating oil prices,” del Mar said.
The House has asked for position papers from the Department of Energy (DOE), Department of Budget and Management (DBM) and the Pinagkaisang Samahan ng Tsuper at Operator Nationwide.
Authors of HB 173 said in their explanatory note that the deregulation law passed in 1998, Republic Act 8479, uses the wrong premise that the world pricing of petroleum and petroleum products is fair and justifiable.
“This deregulation Act merely advocates fair pricing through the mediation between big oil companies (refiners and importers) and relatively small dealers, haulers, and LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) distributors, transnational oil corporations; and the relatively insignificant financial and operational support for small-scale gasoline station retailers,” they said.
HB 173 was filed by Reps. Neri Colmenares, Carlos Zarate, Luzviminda Ilagan, Emerencia de Jesus, Antonio Tinio, Fernando Hicap and Terry Ridon.
Pricing
They said that from the beginning, RA 8479 was bound to fail to implement fair prices, since it ignored monopoly pricing practices and cartel behavior by transnational oil companies.
“Worse, deregulation has given transnational oil corporations even more room to manipulate prices through automatic oil price hikes; less transparency in pricing, profits, and operations; and virtually no accountability to the consuming public,” they said.
Del Mar said that the energy committee conducted its initial deliberations last March 10 and that Rep. Reynaldo Umali, committee chair, created a technical working group to consolidate all the bills.
When asked to comment, DOE Visayas Director Antonio Labios said that three studies by Sycip, Gorres and Velayo and other groups have concluded that, indeed, the oil deregulation law has attracted more players to the oil industry.
Jaime Paglinawan of Bayan Central Visayas, Nino Olarvar of Anakbayan Cebu and Piston Cebu Coordinator Gregory Perez said, however, that transnational oil companies and the new players sell fuel products at almost the same prices.
“Today, there is a clamor to go back to regulated oil distribution,” said Rep. Benhur Salimbangon (Cebu Province, 4th district). “We must study the pros and cons of the proposal. We need to evaluate the present system before we decide to change it.”