Gov’t urged to probe fuel price setting

MANILA, Philippines - The 1-Utak party-list group has asked the Department of Energy-Department of Justice task force to conduct an investigation into possible price manipulation among oil companies in view of a report of the Independent Oil Price Review Committee (IOPRC) that recent increases did not reflect world market prices.

Vigor Mendoza, 1-Utak chairman, told The STAR that he has called the attention of Energy Secretary Jericho Petilla to the discrepancy.

“If all of them committed the same act of not reflecting the true price of fuel in accordance with the movement of world prices, then there may be probable cause for price fixing,” Mendoza said.

Mendoza said the IOPRC report last September stated that changes in the Measure of Oil Pricing in Singapore (MOPS) and foreign exchange rate were not mirrored in local pump prices.

He said there was “statistical evidence of asymmetric response” to world oil price changes, wherein firms changed prices “slightly less during episodes of world price decreases” and did not adjust prices when the MOPS dropped.