Negros Occ officials hit DOE for "doing nothing"

BACOLOD CITY — The Department of Energy (DOE), in Friday's meeting on fuel disparity in the city, received most of the blame for failing to address the demands of government officials, businessmen and sugar and transport groups.

"All these years, they know we have been suffering and nothing has been done - nothing! They (DOE) are toothless. They should be fired and abolished!" businessman Ed Alunan said after the meeting.

A DOE team, led by Zenaida Monzada, head of the Oil Industry Management Bureau, had met with provincial government officials, businessmen, and sugar and transport groups to address the issues surrounding the fuel price disparity in Bacolod and the rest of the province compared to other cities and provinces.

Representative Alfredo Abelardo "Albee" Benitez (3rd district, Negros Occ.) called the meeting in relation to his House Bill No. 179 urging the DOE to create a multi-sectoral Oil Price Watchdog in the Visayas region. "The fuel prices in Bacolod are higher by more than P8 per liter compared to Manila and more than P10 per liter compared to Cebu City," his resolution read.

Alunan however lamented over the DOE team that allegedly came unprepared in Friday's meeting."No figures! No PowerPoint! No presentation!"

Monzada, for her part, reasoned out that the DOE lacks the personnel to closely monitor fuel pump prices nationwide.

But Alunan said, "They (DOE) have a budget of P900 million. If I were Speaker of the House I will slash their budget to P1."

Monzada countered that the DOE does not have the power to curb the oil price disparity because of the Oil Deregulation Law.

This prompted Benitez to remark: "That is something I want to find out why they have no power to curtail and penalize unscrupulous oil companies. If there's a need for legislative action, we will do so."

Alunan said, "Oil companies should be penalized" for the fuel price disparity between Bacolod City and other cities. "If there's no law on that, then legislators should create a law," he said. "The DOE has been acting like the spokesperson of the Big Three (Petron, Caltex, and Shell) and they haven't faced us yet. I am extremely disappointed with them."

For his part, Diego Malacad, secretarygeneral of the United Negros Drivers and Operators Center (UNDOC), said that the consultative meeting was "useless."

"The officials of the DOE only had a discussion but we didn't gain anything. We don't have an illusion that this problem (fuel price disparity) will be solved by the DOE," he said, adding that he is pinning his hopes on the Negrense congressmen, who assured to push for a review and amendment of the Oil Deregulation Law.

Alunan shared: "In Cebu, then Governor Gwen Garcia called Petron, Caltex and Pilipinas Shell to a meeting and she said that she wanted the oil price to go down or else she is not going to allow their ships to dock. After the meeting, prices went down to P3. Two months later, she filed a case against them and today, Cebu is P10 cheaper compared to Bacolod City. All it needs is a stronger government action."

Also in the meeting were Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr., Vice Governor Eugenio Jose Lacson, Bacolod Rep. Evelio Leonardia, Rep. Leo Rafael Cueva (2nd dist., Neg. Occ.), Rep. Pryde Henry Teves (3rd dist., Negros Oriental) and transport leaders Elizabeth Katalbas, Jessie Ortega, Diego Malacad and Teddy Macainan.

Benitez said a Visayan Oil Price Watchdog was created during the meeting. " The watchdog will monitor fuel prices and will find out if we have enough information to go with the provision of the law that allows prosecution for cartelization, predator and unreasonable pricing," he said.

The watchdog will be composed of representatives from the DOE, BIR, Bureau of Customs, Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Negros chapter, transport groups, business sector, sugar industry and LGUs headed by the provincial government. The representatives of each group will choose their head from among themselves when they convene, he said.

Monsada said the watchdog could delve deeper into the other reasons for the higher prices in Negros and other areas in the Visayas so they can be acted upon by the DOE.

Alunan was however pessimistic: "Every day counts. If we put a watchdog, are we going to watch ourselves being ripped off? We need prices to go down now. We need results now and the DOE is useless, its people should be fired and the agency should be abolished for being inutile," he said.

The watchdog will gather the answers to the price disparity problem, Benitez said. "This is just the first step. We just can't move forward without gathering information. We have to find out if there's a probable violation that needs to be addressed. Whether there are legal foundations or not, there is still a legislative action that can be taken."

The congressman said, "If there's nothing we can do, then maybe we can amend the Oil Deregulation Law."

Teves, for his part, said residents of Negros Oriental were also calling for action on the oil price disparity, although they are more "laidback" in their complaints. "But patience can only go so much and when it starts to hurt your pocket, you start to complain," he said.