Speaker Romualdez invites oil firms to discuss price hikes
AS the prices of oil and petroleum products continue to increase, Speaker Ferdinand Martin G. Romualdez plans to invite officials of the country’s oil companies, big and small, in a bid to find a solution or compromise by giving motorists a respite.
For the 10th straight week, the cost of fuel products increased and is expected to last until the end of the year.
According to Romualdez, the government is not insensitive to the sentiments of the people, especially since this carries a domino effect on all products in the market.
“We all know that once the prices of oil rise, everything else shoots up – except the wages and salaries of our workers,” he said in a statement.
The high prices of the oil per barrel in the world market, which has been dictating on rates in the domestic supply, aside from the Oil Deregulation Law that tied the government’s hands.
He also noted that the fuel being sold in the market at present are old stocks or have stayed for months in the inventories or depots of oil companies.
“It is common knowledge that oil companies still sell supplies bought at lower prices before the costs of crude oil in the world market increased. Baka pwede nating mapakiusapan sila na wag na munang magtaas ng presyo,” the Speaker said.
“This is one of our problems, the Oil Deregulation Law that contributed to the high prices of petroleum. It ties our hands. We don’t want to impose on them (oil firms), but we also want to know if they can help alleviate our suffering,” he added.
For this reason, Romualdez wanted to hear from the industry players on what they can do to help in this kind of situation, and if indeed they are willing to help at all because these oil price hikes have been a burden to the Filipinos.
Speaker Romualdez said that in times of economic hardship, all stakeholders must find solutions to alleviate the plight of the people, including oil companies.
