SENATORIAL candidate Herbert “Bistek” Bautista today threw his support behind a proposal for Congress to review the government’s oil price mechanism amid threats of more price increases as a result of the war in Ukraine.
“I think it’s the right time to review how prices are being defined especially in the oil industry. The root of all the problems is the pricing. I think Congress should also review the pricing mechanism,” said Bautista, who is running for senator on a platform of Internet reform, Livelihood for all and Youth development, or ILY.
The Department of Energy (DOE) last week urged lawmakers to review pricing mechanisms for fuel amid soaring pump prices worldwide. Bautista, who served as Quezon City mayor for three terms, said lawmakers need to review the oil pricing components.
“They have to see all the components because in so far as the executive department is concerned, it is a deregulated regime and we cannot do anything. But since the problem is in the framework, then we have to review the framework on the pricing,” he said. Bautista if he wins as senator, he would support a review of the Oil Deregulation Act which abolished the Oil Price Stabilization Fund as a mechanism to bring prices down when fuel supply is disrupted or causes price spikes.
In an earlier statement, Bautista said while it was needed, fuel subsidies to public transport drivers and operators were short-term solutions to a problem that would need a long-term and lasting fix.
“What I see in the long term is an agreement for the government to buy back Petron gas stations nationwide,” Bautista said, adding that this would “serve as a subsidy for the transport sector, consumers and service deliveries.” “I think that’s one of the long-term solutions that we, the national government, can do. And this would require an act of Congress which I would surely support if I become a senator,” he added.
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