Former defense secretary and senatorial bet Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro supports the call of the Department of Energy (DOE) for price unbundling on petroleum products.
In a statement Tuesday, Teodoro said the price unbundling promotes transparency for oil price adjustments, as detailing the components of pump prices determines if the increment is reasonable.
“Oil players should be transparent on the components of fuel prices to ensure that the private sector shares the burden of the skyrocketing pump prices, and not only passing it on to consumers,” said Teodoro, who is running under the UniTeam ticket.
The DOE has been pushing for amendments to the oil deregulation law, particularly price unbundling to enhance the agency’s understanding of the components of petroleum prices.
In 2019, the DOE issued a department circular requiring oil companies to submit detailed components of both price adjustments and the total price of fuel products from the bulk down to the pump price level.
However, it was suspended due to the injunction arising from the cases filed before the Regional Trial Court as oil firms argued that the DOE is only authorized to monitor global and domestic oil price movements, and not as a regulator.
Teodoro added price unbundling does not intend to control prices, but this intervention safeguards consumers from unreasonable price hikes.
He said that amid the soaring oil prices in the domestic market, the government should make a necessary intervention, and not only make DOE a monitoring agency for international and domestic oil prices.
Source: Philippines News Agency
