TAXPAYERS’ money, instead of being plowed to better social services and other programs of the government, would instead go to another state-owned company should the government decide to renationalize Petron Corp.

“It [renationalizing] will not help the government find a quick fix to the continuous surge in world oil prices. It will just make pricing of petroleum products too politicized as it is somehow already is,” a source told the BusinessMirror in an interview.

To be fair, according to the source, Petron is managed well and could still be better with the private sector.  

“If you renationalize Petron, it will just increase the government’s subsidy on government-owned and -controlled companies, which will be taken from taxpayers’ money,” the source said.

The source added that Petron, even if renationalized, would need to pass on its crude and other related supply costs, otherwise, its working capital will eventually be depleted.  

If it becomes illiquid, according to the source, it would lose access to the bank financing that it needs for crude procurement and would be unable to supply its market with refined products.

Another source also said it is now difficult to encourage investors to pour in much-needed foreign capital into the country considering the instability of regulatory policies.

“If you’re an investor and you’re in this country and you’ve been situated in a place that’s been classified as industrial, it is difficult to make long-term decisions considering the feeble regulatory framework we have,” the source said.

The source noted the recent Supreme Court ruling ordering oil companies to move out its depot from Pandacan to another location could result in lost investment opportunities from existing companies and potential investors.

The source said the ruling on the Pandacan depot is actually intertwined with the companies’ growth road map for their operations in the Philippines.

“It is really difficult to bring in investments here with the roadblocks and changes in regulatory policies,” the source said.

CONSIDERING the late start of the summer season this year, the National Power Corp. (Napocor) is looking at its power output, particularly for Luzon, to be more than enough to meet the demand for electricity this hot season.

THE spike in the price of imported rice in the world market has prompted the National Food Authority (NFA) to review its budget for rice imports.

THE Land Bank of the Philippines (LandBank) has extended a P12-billion credit facility to the Department of Agriculture (DA) to support the department’s initiatives to boost the production of rice and other food crops.

DOMESTIC manufacturers called on the Bureau of Customs (BOC) to correct its administrative order on voluntary disclosure as they believe the policy only emboldens further unscrupulous importers to misdeclare their shipments, as they are still allowed to avail themselves of the program even after they have been issued an audit notification letter (ANL).

TAXPAYERS’ money, instead of being plowed to better social services and other programs of the government, would instead go to another state-owned company should the government decide to renationalize Petron Corp.

A LOCAL nongovernment organization (NGO) warned the government that the social costs of continuing the Laiban Dam project will far outweigh the economic benefits the dam will give residents.

CLARK FREE PORT—Over a year after receiving the Centre for Asia-Pacific Aviation (Capa) Low-cost Airport of the Year 2006 award, the Diosdado Macapagal International Airport (DMIA) again bagged the Airport of the Year award for airports with below 15 million passengers annually at the 2008 Frost & Sullivan Asia-Pacific Aerospace and Defense Awards Banquet held in Singapore on March 14.