Rama open to new deal with fuel firm

CEBU, Philippines -  Cebu City Mayor Michael Rama is open to renewing the city's contract with Phoenix Petroleum Inc., which he recently terminated.

Phoenix, which stopped supplying fuel to the city government for the latter's failure to settle its P1million obligation, has asked Rama to reconsider the termination. The company believes what happened was just a matter of miscommunication.

 "There was no intention on our part to stop the deliveries to the city. We will endeavor that this will not happen in the future and we will do regular coordination meetings with your staff to ensure that fuel supply to the city will be uninterrupted," said Richard Tiansay, Phoenix Assistant Vice President -Sales Visayas.

A day prior to sending the letter dated April 28, Tiansay and another representative of the company met with Rama to apologize formally.

Yesterday, Rama said the city will study the situation further.

"I do not want to close the matter too, because if they have been doing well before and something just happened, and if assuming the price is right, that has to be looked into," he said.

"Now, if we spend wasted energy on anger, retribution and vengeance, bitterness, and rancor, then we will be losing sight of that direction, which we wish to accomplish. This matter will be taken care of in due time," he added.

Rama said the city has contributed P300 million to the oil company's business in the three years the city has partnered with the company, something that should have made the company pause before stopping its delivery.

The mayor said it is not the time to delve into animosities and quarrels with anyone, considering that it has to prepare for major events like the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and the International Eucharistic Congress, which the city is hosting.

On Thursday, Rama signed a contract cancelling the partnership with Phoenix, which was supposed to deliver diesel and unleaded gasoline to the city for another month.

City Administrator Lucelle Mercado said the city will hold another and will allow Phoenix to participate.

She said the city had the money and there was just a problem in the processing of the needed documents. Like Rama, she said there was actually enough time for the city and Phoenix to discuss the problem before the company halted delivery.

The non-delivery prompted the city to make an emergency purchase of  40,000 liters of diesel and 4,000 liters of unleaded gasoline from Autogas, which would last city government vehicles for almost a month. (FREEMAN)