Published January 18, 2018, 10:01 PM
By Myrna M.
Velasco
The Department of Energy (DOE) has
been floored when concerned officials indirectly admitted in a Senate hearing
that the Filipino consumers are ‘not categorically protected yet’ from abuses
or profiteering acts from recent oil price hikes as they have yet to validate
and analyze the documents submitted to them by the oil companies.
When quizzed by Senate Committee on
Energy Chairman Sherwin T. Gatchalian if the department has established mechanism
to prevent profiteering and abuses vis-a-vis the cost adjustments enforced at
the petroleum pumps, DOE officials were not able to provide conclusive
response.
“We are trying to avoid abuse and
profiteering, but how can you avoid that if you’re not ahead of the curve,” had
been the senator’s point-blank query to the DOE.
Energy Assistant Secretary Leonido
J. Pulido III responded that the department just required two sets of document
submissions from the oil companies – one had been on their level or volume of
inventories; and two, on product withdrawals.
But when asked by Gatchalian if they
have done at least an analysis of the documents as a way to confirm if the
price hikes implemented had been prudent and warranted, Pulido noted that they
are not done validating the industry players’ submissions yet.
The energy official just assured the
Senate energy committee that they will “finish their analysis by the end of the
month,” the timeframe when 90-percent of the oil companies’ retail stations
would have hiked prices already relative to the enforcement of excise taxes
under the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion Act.
“We’re trying to get it from the DOE
if we have mechanism to prevent profiteering, but from what I am hearing right
now, it seems we don’t have a mechanism… and if there is any, it’s not timely,”
Gatchalian stressed.
The senator added “what I am hearing
is: you have information gathering, but there’s no analysis. So how can we
assure the public that (industry players) will not take advantage of this
‘extraordinary event’, if you don’t have a mechanism?”
The lawmaker similarly asked that in
an event an oil company would eventually be proven to have raised prices not in
accordance with the TRAIN Law’s implementation parameters, “can the consumers
get a refund?”
Pulido said “that (refund) is a
novel idea,” asserting further that “it is difficult, but it can be done.”
But if the end, the department will
establish violations or offenses committed by the oil industry players relative
to the TRAIN taxes’ enforcement, their licenses could be suspended or revoked,
according to Pulido.
Energy officials qualified that
payments of excise taxes by the oil companies are done two-pronged: for the
importers of finished products, it shall be settled with the Bureau of Customs;
and for the refiners like Petron Corporation and Pilipinas Shell Petroleum
Corporation, it shall be done with the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) upon
withdrawal of products.
As of January 18, the DOE reported
that only four companies have hiked prices yet owing to the TRAIN Act – namely
Petron, Shell, Chevron Philippines that carries the Caltex brand; and Flying V.
Increases are anticipated to already
reach 90-percent of all retail stations nationwide by the end of the month.
As affirmed by the DOE, the
TRAIN-induced increases will amount to: P2.97 per liter for gasoline (inclusive
of value added tax charges); P2.80 per liter for diesel; P3.36 per liter for
kerosene; and P1.12 per kilo for liquefied petroleum gas.
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