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By Efren L. Danao, Senior Reporter
Sen. Juan Ponce Enrile said Tuesday that if the oil firms would
not lower their pump prices, Congress would pass a law that would
allow the government to get a portion of their huge profit.
Enrile issued the warning after oil firms
refused to roll back their prices even if the price of crude oil in
the world market had gone down to $83 a barrel.
Earlier, consumer activist Raul Concepcion said
that oil firms could afford to lower their prices by P8 a liter at
the pumps, at P1 a week over a period of eight weeks.
Enrile said oil firms must be compelled to lower
their pump prices.
“They have to scale down their retail price at
this time. Otherwise, I will sponsor a bill to impose upon them an
excess profit tax,” he said.
He pointed out that with the world price of
crude oil down, the oil firms would be enjoying a huge profit if
they do not roll back their prices.
“We agree that business must make profit but
not too much. A reasonable profit, yes, but excess profit can be
subject to an excess profit tax,” he stressed.
Oil firms’ reasons
The oil firms had cited the reimposition of the
1-percent tariff on oil as their reason for refusing to roll back
their prices.
“That tariff rate is very small. One percent
of $83 is less than a dollar,” Enrile said.
He proposed that the proceeds from the excess
profit tax imposed on oil firms be used to help people that are
suffering “because of their [oil firms] refusal to scale down
their retail price.”
Sen. Francis Escudero, chairman of the Senate
Committee on Ways and Means, said that there might be problem in
enforcement
He said the oil companies could not be compelled
to lower their pump prices because the oil industry has been
deregulated.
“To me, the solution lies not in imposing new
tax but in amending the Oil Industry Deregulation Law,” Escudero
said.
He explained that with the amendment, the
Department of Energy (DOE) would cease to become mere “barker”
of prices.
“The DOE would be transformed into a guardian
of national interest to make sure that we would not be taken
advantaged of by oil companies,” he said.
He also lashed at the oil companies for
immediately hiking their pump prices when the world market price
goes up, while taking a month or two to cut their prices when world
market price goes down.
Escudero also said that every first quarter of
the year, oil companies reported a huge profit “to raise their
stockholders” confidence.
“But after the first quarter, we could not
hear anything but under-recovery, losses. I do not understand
this,” he said.
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