“Filipinos are at a disadvantage because of this existing Oil Deregulation Law.”
This was the statement of Senator Erwin Tulfo in an interview pressing on the seemingly arbitrary spike in oil prices in the country amid the Middle East tensions.
“The government is limited by the law from controlling or dictating oil prices.”
“The government is limited by the law from controlling or dictating oil prices,” Tulfo said.
“Worse, because of the Oil Deregulation Law, the government can only appeal to the oil companies to not hike their prices too much when there are price increases in the global oil prices,” the legislator added.
Because of this, he co-authored Senate Bill 641 or the “Institutionalizing Transparency in the Philippine Downstream Oil Industry” filed by Senator Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian to review RA 8479 known as the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998.
“Sen. Win and I want to see the unbundled prices of oil companies. How much did they spend to purchase the petroleum products? What are their added costs and how much do they take for profit per liter?” the senator remarked.
“It is really high time that we have a law that would mandate these companies to reveal their costing of the products being sold to us.”
“Lately, we feel that the petroleum products sold in gasoline stations are overpriced so it is really high time that we have a law that would mandate these companies to reveal their costing of the products being sold to us,” he emphasized.
It may be recalled that during Tulfo’s stint as a Congressman in the 19th Congress, he already filed House Bill 8898 to repeal the Oil Deregulation Law.
Now a senator, Tulfo continues to question how the law was passed in 1998 when it puts the Filipino people in a disadvantageous position.
He then concluded that the repeal of the Oil Deregulation Law has always been the appeal of the transport sector.
