Public disclosure of oil firms' operation sought

MANILA, Philippines - Two Mindanao-based lawmakers have filed a bill that requires oil companies to make a public disclosure of a detailed report on their operations and a comprehensive calculation of how they arrive at the price of gas and diesel per liter.

Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez said the way oil companies peg the prices of gas and diesel is very unclear to the public because they do not explain how they arrive at a price per liter.

House Bill 4193,  authored by Rodriguez and his brother, Abante Mindanao partylist Rep. Maximo Rodriguez, mandates oil firms to disclose to the public a detailed report of their operations and how they come up with the petroleum rates.

Under the bill, oil companies shall submit to the Department of Energy (DOE) and disclose to the public a very detailed and comprehensive report on their operations on a monthly basis.

The report shall include, but not limited to, the amount of oil they import per month and at what prices, the amount of oil they sold, their revenue and expenses, their net income, and all other pertinent data as may be required by the DOE.

The proposed measure also requires oil companies to submit to the DOE and report to the public how they come up with the price of gas and diesel per liter.

At present, oil companies are only required to inform the DOE of any impending adjustment in their prices hours before the implementation without disclosing their inventory levels.

"This is very convenient for these oil companies because they could sell oil that they purchased at lower prices at current price and make a killing at the expense of the consuming public," Rodriguez said.

He said oil companies in the Philippines have been increasing gas and diesel prices regularly under the guise of rising oil prices in the world market.

"While it may true that there are factors that control the prices of oil in the world market which the Philippine oil companies cannot control, it also cannot be argued that these oil companies are reaping the benefits in the form of billions of pesos in revenues and income," he added.

Rodriguez said Petron Corporation reported that it returned to profitability after posting a net income of P4.3 billion for the year 2009, and a net income of P1.9 billion for the first quarter of the year 2010 while Pilipinas Shell posted a P7.6 billion profit for the first three quarters of 2009.

He said it is apparent that as gas prices go up, the income of these companies also goes up showing that as prices of oil worldwide increase, these companies also raise their profit margin.