House leaders meet with DOE officials, oil firm reps to come up with solutions to successive oil price hikes

Transcript

00:00 As the Department of Energy or DOE confirms another hefty oil price hike tomorrow,

00:05 House Speaker Martin Romualdez led a meeting with Energy Department and some oil industry players

00:11 to create measures to resolve the continuous price increase in oil products.

00:16 Mela Lesmora has the full details.

00:19 House Speaker Martin Romualdez together with other House leaders met with several oil firms

00:26 representatives and officials from the Department of Energy today to explore solutions against the

00:32 relentless increase of fuel prices in the country. Oil companies are set for a two peso per liter

00:38 price hike for unleaded gasoline and two pesos and fifty centavos for diesel for the 11th time

00:44 this year. And some firms will also be implementing a two peso price hike for a liter of kerosene.

00:51 Your friends here in the house want to listen to you because we want to work together and see how

00:57 we can mitigate the prices. We want to work together and have an informal hearing so we can get the

01:10 best ideas on how we can give a better price for our oil prices.

01:20 According to House Deputy Majority Leader Erwin Tulfo, during the consultative meeting among the

01:26 possible courses of action they discussed are the proposal to revisit the oil deregulation law and

01:31 as a quick short-term and fast-test solution, the temporary suspension of the fuel excise tax.

01:37 Once implemented, this will truly help bring down fuel prices by more than 10 pesos a liter.

01:43 It will have to be recommended by the Speaker to the President. Only the President can do that

01:49 for the suspension of excise. And there are computations already and our group

01:55 will reduce the price of the oil by around 10 pesos if the excise tax is removed.

02:01 And they are also saying that if the use of bioethanol is eased up,

02:07 it's another four pesos, about 14 pesos. So it will be reduced.

02:11 Next week, the lower house will resume consultation with all industry players

02:16 before finalizing its recommendations to the President. They are also eyeing a

02:20 separate meeting with other industries affected by the series of oil price hikes.

02:25 My plan, Mr. Speaker, is to talk to the canned manufacturers, the basic good commodities

02:32 manufacturers, to meet with them because they are guessing that the can will increase,

02:38 et cetera. So the Speaker wants to talk to them, I think with the DTI, if they can hold off for now

02:45 because it's Christmas. With Christmas around the corner,

02:48 the House leadership assured to continue their efforts in spreading Christmas cheer

02:53 and happier holidays to Filipinos. Reporting from the House of Representatives, Melales Moras for

03:00 the nation.