Cebu governor to sue 3 oil firms
CEBU CITY -- After learning that Cebuanos are paying P5 to P8 more for oil products than consumers from the rest of the country, Governor Gwendolyn Garcia will seek redress of the “injustice” in court.
She will file Tuesday a criminal complaint against the country’s three oil firms for violating the Oil Deregulation Law.
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“There is an injustice being committed to the people of Cebu. We have to get to the bottom of this. I hope we can get a reasonable answer because if you don’t, we need to take proper action,” she told officials of Shell, Petron, and Caltex-Chevron who attended a meeting at the old Capitol session hall Monday.
For the governor, the P5-to-P8-per-liter difference in oil prices is “unacceptable.”
The governor called for a meeting with representatives of the oil companies, the Philippine Exporters Confederation (Philexport)-Cebu, the Cebu Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (CCCI), the Mandaue Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Mactan Island Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and the Federation of Filipino-Chinese Chamber and Commerce-Cebu.
The conference was an offshoot of the concern raised by CCCI and Philexport during the Cabinet meeting which President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo held in Cebu last week.
The business groups pointed out the disparity in the prices of oil products in Cebu compared to other areas in the country.
“I cannot, in conscience, accept this present situation where we are paying the highest price of fuels (among key cities in the Philippines)… I think the proper recourse here is to file a proper complaint with the DOE-DOJ (Department of Energy-Department of Justice),” Garcia said Monday.
She said they will cite them for violating Republic Act (RA) 8479 or the Act Deregulating the Downstream Oil Industry and For Other Purposes.
But Roberto Kanapi, vice president for communications of Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., explained that the prices of fuel depend on market forces, like the prices set by the big and small oil players.
“There are sources from Mindanao and even Luzon who can bring their products at lower prices,” Kanapi said.
But he assured they are willing to open their books to the Task Force on Oil Deregulation of the DOJ, if necessary.
During the conference, the CCCI presented its comparative study on fuel prices in the cities of Davao, Cagayan De Oro, Iloilo, and Metro Manila.
Dubbed as “Oil Price Watch,” the study, the business group said, was based on an actual survey of gas station pump prices last May 15.
The study showed that prices of fuel products in Cebu were higher by an average of P4.83 than Manila’s.
Also, the CCCI noted that prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in Cebu Province were higher than in other key cities of the country.
Big gap
CCCI president Samuel Chioson said the study clearly shows “a big gap” between Cebu and other key cities in the country.
Garcia, for her part, asked whether the three oil firms are recovering their losses from Cebuanos by selling oil products at higher prices in the province.
“We cannot say that this is the essence and beauty of deregulation because it is supposed to decrease for the benefit of the consumers,” she said.
“Right now, I am talking not as a businesswoman but as governor of Cebu. This affects my constituents and this affects the business sector, which is a key player in the growth and development of this province,” Garcia said.
Garcia instructed Provincial Attorney Marino Martinquilla to prepare the complaint, which the governor wants filed Tuesday before the DOE-DOJ.
DOJ reaction
In reaction, Justice Undersecretary Jose Vicente Salazar, who is also the Task Force on Oil Deregulation co-chairperson, said: “It’s something that is unprecedented. I hope it will prosper.”
“This is really something big. This will test the mechanism provided for in the Oil Deregulation Law. It is something which is actually intruding into the market forces. Government has to come into the picture to determine if there are abuses in these market forces (and) whether these companies have taken advantage beneficial to them but disadvantageous to the general public,” he said.
While he doesn’t want to preempt the outcome of the case, Salazar said “there is clear indication that would warrant an investigation.”
Meanwhile, Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board (LTFRB)-Central Visayas Director Romulo Bernardes said that his office has inquired with the DOE about the disparity in the prices of fuel in the country.
No clear reply
However, Bernardes said they received no clear answer from DOE, which only cited the Oil Deregulation Law.
Bernardes, who is attending the LTFRB directors’ conference in General Santos City, said the different pricing of oil products in the country can affect his agency’s decision on fare rates petition.
“That’s one of the issues that will be discussed in our conference,” Bernardes said.
For his part, lawyer Manuel Iway, a former LTFRB director and who is always opposed to petitions for fare rate increase, said the decision of the governor to file charges against multinational oil companies is timely.
Iway said he cannot understand why diesel is at P28 per liter in Mindanao but at P31.56 per liter in Cebu when Mindanao is far from Manila where the stocks originated. (GMD/EOB/Sun.Star Cebu)
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wonder ko unsa na kaha nahitabo ani ay... basin gitagaan nani ug kwarta aron mahilom...
grabe btaw ka taas gas dri cebu compare sa uban lugar oi...
Cebu governor to sue 3 oil firms
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