Estrada to meet oil execs anew

To spare consumers from a new round of gasoline price increases this Christmas, President Estrada may have to break a self-imposed policy and once again beg oil companies to defer their plans.

The President said he is hoping that a meeting with oil executives can convince them to postpone the implementation of a price adjustment of as much as 70 centavos per liter this month.

Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Caltex Phils. Inc. and Petron Corp. announced Friday they may have to raise pump prices anew due to the continuing rise in world crude prices and the depreciation of the peso.

Mr. Estrada had earlier decided to stop meeting with oil companies each time a price increase loomed. Malacañang explained that this has been sending investors wrong signals as to the implementation of the Oil Industry Deregulation Law, which calls for non-government control in the fixing of fuel prices.

The President said yesterday he and Energy Secretary Mario Tiaoqui will be holding the meeting at Malacañang.

"Perhaps, we can ask them to let Christmas pass first before they adjust prices," Mr. Estrada said.

However, he failed to say when the meeting will take place.

In a bid to stave off a new round of increases last month, the President issued Executive Order (EO) 314, which will suspend for a period of three months the three percent duty on crude oil imports.

However, the country’s oil companies said they still need to raise prices due to the weak peso, which fell to as low as 51 to a dollar last month.

Mr. Estrada has repeatedly impressed upon the people that the continued increase of oil prices in the world market is an external factor beyond the control of any president, including those of Europe and other non-oil producing countries.

In his speech at the recent Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ summit in Brunei Darussalam, the President appealed to the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to give preferential pricing to developing countries like the Philippines.