ROXAS TO CALL OIL FIRMS TO EXPLAIN HIGH PRICES

Liberal President Senator Mar Roxas said he would call a Senate hearing to find out once and for all how much oil firms are profiting with their continued high pump prices while world crude oil continues to decline.

"Magpapatawag ako ng hearing para hingan ng paliwanag ang mga kumpanya ng langis kung bakit patuloy nilang sinisipsip ang dugo ng ating mamamayan (I will call a hearing to find out why these huge oil companies are bleeding our people dry)," said Roxas, chairman of the Senate committee on trade and commerce, which had previously summoned the Department of Energy and oil companies when the price of oil was rising to the $100/barrel level.

"Mayroon din siguro silang mga kalkulasyon kung bakit ganoon ang kanilang presyo. Bakit hindi nila ipakita? Ang una na dapat magpaliwanag ay mga oil companies mismo. Bakit nila ginagawang spokesman si DoE Secretary Angelo Reyes na nagpapaliwanag para sa kanila? (They probably have their own calculations on why their prices are like that. Why don't they show it? The first one to explain should be the oil companies themselves. Why make DoE Secretary Angelo Reyes their spokesman to explain for them?)," he said.

The Ilonggo senator is now supported by the Pinag-Isang Samahan ng mga Tsuper at Operators Nationwide (PISTON) and the Confederation of FX/AUV Operators and Drivers in his call for P25/L diesel and unleaded gasoline.

"Base sa aking kalkulasyon, napakalaki ang kanilang pagsingil, at dapat babaan ito ng P10 kada litro sa diesel at sa unleaded (Based on our calculations, the charges are so high, and this should be lowered by P10 a liter for diesel and unleaded)," he said, noting that the present P35-level prices of diesel and unleaded showed only a decline of 37.4% and 39%, respectively, since July, even as Dubai crude and the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) have dropped by around 60% in the same period.