‘DOE chief looking for scapegoat on cartel’

A Central Luzon congressman chided Secretary Raphael Lotilla of the Department of Energy (DOE) yesterday for saying Congress must pass a law so the government can prevent oil companies from acting as a cartel.

"Secretary Lotilla, who is just warming his seat in his new post, is already looking for scapegoats for his failure to stop oil companies from unreasonable and unreasonably frequent price increases," said Bataan Rep. Antonino Roman.

Roman, who seldom comments on such issues, was reacting to The STAR’s headline story quoting the energy chief as saying that the Oil Deregulation Law passed by Congress in 1994 is not a sufficient tool for the government, acting through the DOE, to stop big and small players in the oil industry from "cartelizing" their prices.

Lotilla, a lawyer, had said the Revised Penal Code is too old to be applicable today when it comes to practices that hinder free competition and promote cartels and monopolies.

"Secretary Lotilla’s statements are disappointing, to say the least. They tend to excuse the failure of the government to prosecute the players in the oil industry who combine in restraint of free trade and act like a cartel," said Roman, who is also a lawyer.

He urged his fellow barrister to revisit the Revised Penal Code. "As far as I can remember, the Code, specifically Article 186, prohibits practices that are in restraint of free trade and that promote cartels and monopolies," he said.

He said it is true that the penal law was enacted in the 1930s but its prohibitions on practices that hinder free competition "amply cover the present situation."

"There is no need for a new law to go after those who hurt us by conniving with one another. All Mr. Lotilla and other concerned officials, including the justice secretary (Raul Gonzalez), have to do is enforce the law. They just have to do their job," he stressed.

He pointed out that there exists a DOE-Department of Justice task force that is supposed to prosecute oil companies that are apparently sleeping on the job.

Two other congressmen, Assistant Majority Leader Antonio Cerilles and Eastern Samar Rep. Marcelino Libanan, shared Roman’s call for Lotilla to enforce the appropriate laws on oil companies.

"They should do their job first before they complain about the supposed insufficiency of legislation," Cerilles and Libanan said in a joint statement.

They said the DOE chief’s statements imply that a cartel in the oil industry indeed exists and that the government cannot do anything about it, or about unreasonable price increases on fuel.

"Lotilla and the DOE should Implement the present laws to the fullest and give our people a fairer price for fuel. Outdated or not, they have to use the Revised Penal Code against unfair trade practices and cartels and monopolies," they added.

Members of Congress have continued to complain about frequent and unreasonable fuel price increases, even after crude prices on the world market recently fell.

Out of exasperation, Senate President Franklin Drilon once even called then Energy Secretary Vincent Perez "inutile."

In the House, Rep. Florencio Noel of the party-list group An Waray has noted that oil companies, big and small, have been acting as a cartel, coordinating their price increases to prevent actual competition from taking place.

Lately, in a reversal of roles, Noel noted that it was the small players that took the lead in increasing prices, followed by the big ones. "The small players are acting like stunt doubles of their big brothers," he said.