Solon hits oil firms for price hike plan

Sen. Tessie Aquino Oreta rapped oil companies yesterday for announcing a plan to increase fuel prices ostensibly because of the impending US strike against Iran and their need to comply with the Clean Air Act.

"The big oil companies have been quick in projecting an increase in gasoline prices but have been agonizingly slow and tightfisted in implementing price rollback when crude oil rates in the world market are down," she said.

Oreta issued the statement after oil officials announced that fuel prices would increase by P1 to P1.50 per liter by Jan. 1 due to the additional requirements in selling fuel under the Clean Air Act.

The law requires all unleaded gasoline to contain 35 percent aromatics, or lower than the present 40 percent, and two percent benzene instead of the current four percent, by Jan. 1, 2003.

She recalled that the oil companies had turned a deaf ear to appeals by an independent consumer watchdog to implement another 40-centavo per liter cut in fuel prices as world oil prices continued to fall.

Oreta said that this "bad habit" of oil companies in being quick in increases but slow in rollbacks, could be broken through the creation of an oversight committee.

"The oversight committee would not only ensure fair market pricing in the deregulated downstream oil industry but also monitor the quality of fuel sold by oil players under the strict standards set by the Clean Air Act," she said.

She maintained that monitoring of oil companies’ compliance with the law would be more effective if the oversight committee is in place. – Efren Danao