Councilor bats for repeal of oil deregulation law

MANILA, Philippines -  A Manila councilor is calling for the repeal of the Oil Deregulation Law in the wake of the continued oil price increases.

Manila Councilor DJ Bagatsing filed a resolution before the Manila City Council to urge other councilors to join his call for the members of the House of Representatives to repeal Republic Act 8479, also known as the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998.

Bagatsing said RA 8479 has been a burden to Filipinos due to the continuous oil price hike. “There is a pressing need to restore stability and regulate the oil industry,” he said. “The people... have endured long enough.”

Bagatsing said the immediate repeal of RA 8479 is necessary to end the “chain of organized tyranny exercised by oil companies.”

Bagatsing said RA 8479 was enacted solely for the purpose of encouraging the entry of new oil players and ensure a competitive market. RA 8479 is being used as a reason for oil companies to implement continual oil price hikes, he added.

Bagatsing said the law also failed to encourage fair prices, adequate and continuous supply of environmentally-clean and high-quality petroleum products.

“It appears that there is a concerted action among oil companies to buy low and sell high, while simultaneously tight-fisting on to their buffer stocks and reserves to arbitrarily capitalize on every opportunity, whether real, imagined or simulated,” he said.

Bagatsing said Filipinos do not need a band-aid remedy to the weekly oil price hikes. A proposed E-VAT moratorium or exemption on petroleum products may not be appropriate to squarely address the issues on liberalized and deregulated oil trade since it automatically deprives the government of income while allowing the oil companies to still dictate the price of petroleum products and the margin of their profits, he said.