SENATORIAL candidate Herbert “Bistek” Bautista yesterday urged economic managers to seriously consider his proposal for a government buy back of oil firm Petron from San Miguel Corporation and use it as a tool in pushing down fuel prices when world rates go out of control.
“In the long term, I think we really need to get back Petron,” Bautista said, adding that buying back Petron would allow the government to compete with private fuel dealers when prices are unstable.
“They will all go to us, those refueling would go to government because it’s less expensive. That’s indirect subsidy to the total chain of gasoline users,” said Bautista, who implemented alleviation programs to ease fuel price increases when he was the mayor of Quezon City for three terms.
“That means prices of other goods would not go up. Transport fare won’t go up because prices of gasoline are low,” he said, stressing: “I think that’s one of the best ways.”
Bautista, who is No. 8 on the ballot in the senatorial race and is running on a platform of Internet reform, Livelihood for all and Youth development, or ILY, said he has information that the Department of Energy, through energy chief Alfonso Cusi, and tycoon Ramon Ang, who now owns Petron through his San Miguel conglomerate, had already started initial discussions on the proposed buyback.
Bautista said alongside efforts to buy back Petron, the government should also consider reviving the Oil Price Stabilization Fund (OPSF), which was scrapped when the oil industry was deregulated.
Bautista made the statement as government policymakers scrambled to find solutions to tame fuel prices amid the ongoing invasion by Russia of Ukraine, which sent oil prices to soar way past $100 per barrel. In the Philippines, motorists were told to brace for a price increase of as much as P5 per liter of fuel.
