THE House of Representatives is set to review the Oil Deregulation Law.
"Yes, definitely, that is included," Marikina 2nd District Rep. Miro Quimbo, chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means, said in Filipino and English in a virtual media interview Tuesday. The upcoming joint House committee hearings are aimed at helping Filipinos amid the war in the Middle East.
"I think it's very clear to us that, you know, a totally unregulated [oil] industry like ours — I mean, it's great for First World countries. It works there because, deregulated is really good because they are competing among themselves," Quimbo said. "And in fact, you see it in some retail areas, they are really competing for lower prices. But the basic component that is missing is that you have a very strong law enforcement mechanism relative to making sure that competition actually takes place." "In other countries, that is already very much alive; their antitrust, they really penalize, their ability to look into the bank accounts, into the records of these companies for them to see whether there seems to be price fixing or price collusion," he said.
Quimbo said the country's "anti-competition culture" was still "very immature," so "that is what we need to give a second look at." Speaker Faustino Dy III ordered joint House committee hearings to craft measures that would assist Filipinos amid the effects of the conflict in the Middle East.
The hearings will be conducted after Holy Week even as the House is on a break. The chamber adjourned session March 28 and will resume May 4.
During Cauayan's 25th cityhood anniversary Monday night, Dy, the congressional representative of Isabela's 6th District, said the country was "very dependent" on petroleum products and should have alternatives.
In an interview Tuesday, Quimbo said there were "many renewable sources of energy in the Philippines." "I think what we need to do is how do we encourage the private sector... to invest more in renewables," he said. "We need to gather information so we can come up with the right recommendations." The hearings will be conducted by the House committees on energy; agriculture and food; aquaculture and fisheries; foreign affairs; ways and means; labor and employment; transportation; information and communications technology; economic affairs; social services; trade and industry; overseas workers affairs; and appropriations.
"We are holding these joint hearings to make sure that the initiatives of the legislative branch are coordinated with the executive and are properly targeted and forward-looking," Dy said in a statement Monday.
