Wednesday, February fA m19
3 THINGS DUTERTE CAN
DO TO CURB OIL PRICE
SPIKES.A 5010N'5 LIST
t LAWMAKER on Tuesdav
f\ urg"a President Duterte
I lto implement "three 'must'
measures"to preventoil price hikes.
Bayah Muna Rep.Carlos lsagani
Zarate madea statement aft er Presi-
dent Duterte said that he can do
nothing about oil price hikes even
if irate citizens hang him.
Zarate said President Duterte,
in fact, can do something, and
pitched these three measures-
the regulation ofthe downstream
oil indu5try, the centralized pro-
curement of oil a1d the govern-
ment buyback of Petron-to ad-
dress oil price increasej.
"lt appears now that the Con-
gress leaderships are aftaid of the
big oil companies becausetheyare
not prioritizing oil price slashing
legislative measures;" he added.
' dollar exchange rate fluctuations,
Bayan Muna filed House Bill
I 760to renationalize Petron; House
Bill 3676 to regulate the down-
stream oil industry; and House Eill
3678 to centralize the procurement
ofoil in the country,
The Eroup is calling on the
House leadershiptofast-trackthese
billstoshield Filipinosfrom escalat-
ing oilprice hikes.
"Up to 95 percent ofthe coun-
try's petroleum requirements are
imported, rendering the country
exceedingly vulnerable to the dic-
tates of big tiansnational corpora-
tions. The wor5t implicatign ofthis
is our severe dependence on such
\ PAq<r-- AP'r
corporations, which control not
only the impdrtation, refining and
retailinE of crude and petroleum
productsfromabroad butalso con-
trol the exploration, exploitation,
refi ning, retailing and even reexpor-
tation ofour country's indigenous
petroleum and petroleum-based
products/' Zarate said.
"These deprives us the oppor
tunityto be self-suffi cientand earn
from the development of our own
oil industry/added zarate.
As for the centralized procure-
. ment ofoil, the lawmakersaid the
Big Three, or'the local subsidiaries
of shell, Caltex and Petron. claim
that they do not overprice, that
they set prices based on the price
increases of Dubai oil exchanged
overthe spot marketand on peso-
"Moreover, they continue to still
denythe already obvlous existence
ofa cartel, alleging they merely fol-
lowthe movements of world oil pric-
es. This misleading claim, though,
is belied by the fact that they are
minimallyaffected by prices in world
marketsand evenastheyareableto
trade in the samecurrency between
subsidiaries," he said.
According to the lawmaker,the
renationalization of Petron Corp.
will ensure public welfare through
fairand regulated prices byserving
as a counterpoint to predatory pric-
ing by other oil companies.
lovee arte . Ma Ouz