Lawyers walk out of oil price hearing

MANILA, Philippines - Lawyers of the country’s three largest oil firms walked out of the courtroom after Manila Regional Trial Court (RTC) Judge Silvino Pampilo of Branch 26 allowed Consumer Oil Price Watch (COPW) chairman Raul Concepcion to testify during yesterday’s hearing on the alleged overpricing of petroleum products.

Before their walkout, lawyers Jannet Regalado of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Erwin Herrera of Chevron Philippines Inc., and Gener Asuncion of Petron Corp. said Pampilo should not proceed with the hearing because the Supreme Court had not yet ruled on their petition to stop the proceedings.

Regalado told Pampilo they will not join the proceedings, but clarified they have not waived their right to cross-examine Concepcion.

Pampilo set another hearing on Oct. 11 to give the oil firms’ lawyers a chance to cross-examine Concepcion.

In defending yesterday’s hearing, Pampilo said he will only stop the proceedings if the SC issues a temporary restraining order. He added this is the first case involving the oil deregulation law (Republic Act 8479), and it is a matter of public interest.

He said that until now, the SC has not said whether the lower courts or the Department of Energy-Department of Justice (DOE-DOJ) task force has jurisdiction on this issue.

He said thus far, the SC has ordered him to stop convening a panel of auditors and from citing in contempt the commissioners of Commission on Audit (COA), Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) and Bureau of Customs (BOC) for allegedly refusing to audit the Big 3 oil companies.

Pampilo said the three oil firms were worried that the hearing would “open floodgates to several other law suits in different courts.”

‘It was no walkout’

Asuncion and Regalado said what they did when they left the courtroom without finishing the hearing was “not a walkout.” Asuncion said since they are contesting the jurisdiction of the court, it would be useless to participate.

Asuncion said they plan to file a motion to inhibit Pampilo from hearing the case.

Meanwhile, Pampilo gave petitioners led by the Social Justice Society (SJS) 15 days to comment on the request by the three oil firms to stop the proceedings.

Cabigao said the oil firms’ lawyers just made a scene to try to stop the proceedings. He said he plans to file a motion to cite the lawyers in contempt.

“We also plan to convert the case into an ordinary civil action. The Big 3 lawyers are saying the court here has no jurisdiction. But under the rules of court, we could have this converted into an ordinary civil action in order that the court would have power. This would cure the defect,” he said.

A question of indexes

Lawyer Elias Cresencio, representing Concepcion, asked his client during the hearing why oil firms based their prices on a higher price index called the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), which is based on finished oil products.

Concepcion said since Shell and Petron are refineries and import crude oil, they should use the NYMEX or Dubai Crude Oil Price Index, which would result in lower oil prices since they are based on crude oil.

On the other hand, Chevron has no refinery, he said.

“What I am saying, I am kind to them, if they want to use MOPS, which should not be the case, I will give in. But the price increase should be only once a month, because the inventory is 30 days,” Concepcion said.

“If they are using MOPS, the prices are higher. Because the prices are based on importing refined petroleum, not crude oil. This should not be the case because Shell and Petron are refineries,” he also said.