Small oil firms now part of oil cartel — lawmaker

Judging by the way they have been acting recently, the so-called small but independent oil companies have become part of the oil cartel controlling the industry in the country, a party-list congressman said yesterday.

"The small companies are now happily playing the role of a stunt double for the Big Three that make up the oil cartel. They have become part of the Old Boys’ Club," said Rep. Florencio Noel of An Waray.

"They have shed their pretensions of playing the role of a fiscalizer and are now acting as the mouthpiece and apologist of the big three oil firms," he said.

Noel said he was forced to make the observation in the wake of what happened in the last few months when it was the small players that took the lead in increasing their pump prices, with the three dominant firms following only what their small counterparts did.

Before that, he noted that it was the other way around, with the big companies adjusting their prices first, followed by the small players.

But in the reversal of roles that recently took place, Noel said the small companies have performed better than their "big brothers" when it comes to winning sympathy from the public that is already reeling from high fuel prices.

"They can beg the people’s understanding, using their smallness as an excuse. When it’s the turn of the big players to increase prices, they can always point to the small companies as the ones that started the adjustment," he said.

He added his voice to the growing clamor for Congress to review the Oil Deregulation Law to bring about true competition among oil companies. — Jess Diaz