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What’s
keeping oil companies from implementing a rollback of
their pump prices now that world oil prices have fallen
below $90 a barrel?
Right
now there seems to be an emerging consensus that the oil
firms are deliberately ignoring calls for more price
rollbacks in order to generate more profits.
Sen.
Juan Ponce Enrile, chairman of the Senate finance
committee, says he would sponsor a bill to impose an
excess-profit tax on oil companies if they refuse to
bring down prices. He is also pushing an antitrust bill
to prevent monopolies or cartels among industries,
manipulation of prices of commodities and price
discrimination.
For his
part, Sen. Francis Escudero, chairman of the Senate ways
and means committee, believes it would be better to
revise or repeal the oil-deregulation law rather than
impose a new tax on oil companies. The repeal of the
oil-deregulation law, he says, would “teach oil
companies a lesson and provide more teeth for the
government to sanction companies that do not follow
right prices in the world market.”
Over at
the House of Representatives, Speaker Prospero Nograles
says they would also look at the possibility of imposing
a windfall tax. “We join the senators’ call for oil
companies to further reduce their selling prices,”
Nograles said.
We hope
the united stand of the Legislature on the issue would
exert enough pressure on the oil firms to bring down
their pump prices. It looks like the Department of
Energy is totally unable to protect the public interest
amid the price-fixing schemes of the oil companies. With
his military background, Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes
should have moved decisively against the oil cartel. But
he hasn’t lifted a finger to protect the public from
exorbitant oil prices. Why?
Villar
cleared of wrongdoing
After
last week’s hearing by the Senate finance committee on
the controversial budget insertion issue, Senator Enrile
declared there was no evidence presented of any
wrongdoing in the double entry of a P200-million
allocation for the C-5 road project in the 2008 national
budget.
Sen.
Panfilo Lacson had linked Senate President Manny Villar
to the double insertion. Sen. Jamby Madrigal, meantime,
accused the Villar-owned real-estate firm Brittany
Corp., of benefiting from the right-of- way acquisition
in the road project.
“What was not established was if there was an intent to
profit. There was no evidence presented to the committee
for that purpose. So far there is none [evidence
presented on wrongdoing] as far as this hearing is
concerned,” Enrile said after the hearing.
Enrile,
a lawyer, emphasized that the one who made the
allegation should present evidence. “You make the
allegation, you have to prove it. He who alleges has the
burden of proof,” Enrile said.
So far,
Lacson has failed to present solid evidence of Villar’s
role in the budget-insertion issue. Senator Enrile said
he confined the hearing to such matters as the
expenditure of public funds, payment of public debts,
allocation of funds, and sharing of funds among
intergovernmental units and found nothing that would pin
down Villar. “I cannot go beyond that. If there is any
wrongdoing, violation of the law that will be punishable
under the Revised Penal Code or under special law such
as the anti-graft law or the Standard of Conduct for
Public Officials, then that goes to the other committee
of the Senate, even directly by the Ombudsman, by the
Department of Justice or a complaint directly filed with
the courts,” Enrile said.
Enrile’s
parting shot: “The jurisdiction of the finance committee
deals only with the national budget and no more.” And if
no irregularity in the national budget was found during
the hearing that could be directly traced to Villar, yet
the demolition job against him continues, then there’s a
clear political agenda behind the whole exercise.
The
political angle is all too obvious in Lacson’s recent
pronouncement that he “may” file a criminal case against
Villar before the Ombudsman as soon as he is able to
collate evidence on the case. When that “may” becomes
“will” is, of course, a matter of conjecture. For all we
know, that will never take place, because no solid proof
is available, now or in the future. But the damage on
Villar’s integrity has been done, and for a politician
like Lacson who is believed to want to take another stab
at the presidency in 2010, despite an embarrassing
defeat in 2004, that’s apparently all that really
matters.
E-mail: ernhil@yahoo.com |
