Senators mull partial regulation of oil sector idea

N E W S B R I E F S

03/20/2009

Senators are amenable to a proposal in the House of Representatives for the implementation of a partial regulation of the oil industry to break the alleged cartel of major oil players.

Sen. Gregorio Honasan, chairman of the energy committee and concurrent co-chairman of the Joint Congressional Power Commission (JCPC), said he and his co-panel members are currently studying the proposal and looking into its possible implementation by the concerned government agencies.

“As chairman of the Senate committee on energy, we are driven by two objectives: Steady supply and reasonable prices. If that proposal in the House will address or respond to these objectives, the Senate, through the JCPC, which I co-head, will support that,” Honasan said at the Kapihan sa Senado forum yesterday.

He moreover said the bicameral oversight committee will also study how the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission enforce the Oil Deregulation Law to determine whether Congress needs to amend the law.

The JCPC, Honasan said, gave the two agencies as well as the major oil companies a two-week deadline to submit the pertinent documents which the lawmakers have sought from them to be able to begin the congressional review.

“So, we are waiting for the submissions. We gave them two weeks. We agree with (the) observations that the local oil industry may have been cartelized again, but we will be fair even to the big oil companies. We will ask them to submit their income statements, which should be public record, even under a privatized policy environment. This is to determine if they are declaring, honestly, their profits or if they are taking advantage of the consumers,” he said.

Honasan said part of their review is studying the feasibility of adopting a scheme similar to the Marcos-era Oil Price Stabilization Fund to address the unbridled hikes in local oil prices. Angie M. Rosales

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