Manila Regional Trial Court issues subpoena to Recto

MANILA, Philippines - The Manila regional trial Court yesterday issued a subpoena to former National Economic and Development Authority director general Ralph Recto, ordering him to appear before the court to testify about his earlier statement that the “Big 3” oil companies were overpricing their petroleum products.

Manila RTC Branch 26 Judge Silvino Pampilo Jr. issued the subpoena after granting the request of the Social Justice Society to let Recto testify before the court, saying his testimony will support their motion to restrain further price hikes.

Recto was earlier quoted in news reports saying that petroleum products are overpriced by P8. “This is to make clear if there is overpricing by the Big 3 and to testify on the merit of the SJS petition for the issuance of a temporary restraining order and writ of preliminary injunction,” Pampilo said.

Recto is ordered to appear before the court on Sept. 18 at the start of the hearing to stop oil price hikes. The judge ordered Recto to bring pertinent documents, specifically from his tenure as the NEDA director general, that would prove that Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Caltex Philippines Inc. (now Chevron), and Petron Corp. have been overpricing their petroleum products as alleged by the SJS.

SJS lawyer Vladimir Cabigao asked the Manila RTC Branch 26 to summon Recto to bolster their petition before the court for the issuance of TRO against the continuous oil price hikes of the Big 3. In a position paper submitted to the House energy committee on July 29, the NEDA said based on its computation, gasoline should be selling for only P32 per liter instead of P41.

The NEDA said it has presented to the Department of Energy and the oil companies its “methodology” in making its computation for comparison but that the oil firms refused to reveal their pricing formula.

Regulate oil prices

Moreover, bus operators are urging the legislators to consider the regulation of oil prices to enable them to invest more on cleaner fuels, an industry official said.

Randall Antonio, president of Callandra Liquefied CNG Fuels Corp., a joint venture between Filipino and foreign investors, told reporters that the volatility of oil prices is one of the main culprits why bus companies are somewhat hesitant to invest in CNG-run buses.

“Based on talks with bus operators for the promotion of compressed natural gas (CNG) use in the Philippines, they said regulating the oil prices by the government will help in the advancement of the use of CNG which is a cleaner fuel,” he said.

He said legislators might want to take a look at various proposals to regulate the oil prices which is only one provision in the Oil Deregulation Law which actually needs to be revised to be able to answer the problem of the transport sector on continuing volatility of oil prices.

“The problem with oil deregulation is that it does not help in stabilizing oil prices which is very crucial for bus operators to invest on cleaner fuels,” he said. Most of the bus operators, he said, are arguing that “they would want to be able to project oil prices so that they would come up with a projection of their operating expenses.” – With Donnabelle Gatdula