CITY OF SAN FERNANDO – The partylist group Anakpawis said yesterday that the only way to curb the multi-billion oil smuggling in the country is for the government to take over this vital industry, nationalize its ownership and operations and proceed with centralized procurement of petroleum products.
“The crime that is oil smuggling in the Philippines is a tale as old as time which is institutional ized by the undisputed reign of oil cartel and galvanized by the current Oil Deregulation Law,” said Anakpawis partylist vice chairperson Fernando Hicap in a press statement.
He said the “expose on oil smuggling” as reported by Petron and later confirmed by Shell “should not mislead the public that these two corporate giants in the oil industry are clean and crusaders against plunder, corruption and other criminal activities.”
“The expose regarding oil smuggling by members of the oil cartel is motivated by the ideology of and obsession for super profits. The oil syndicate is just complaining because they want the entire 100 percent of the pie, not just 66 percent, so they are after the 33 percent currently shared by underworld operators of export processing zones or those oil ganglands maintaining contacts and influences with the oil cartel or with the incumbent bureaucrat capitalists in Malacanang,” Hicap noted.
Anakpawis partylist suggested three steps “the national government can effectively address and stop oil smuggling in the country under the framework of nationalization.”
The first is repealing the Oil Deregulation Law that “puts 99 million Filipinos under the mercy of Petron, Chevron and Shell.” Under the deregulated regime oil related crimes such as overpricing, predatory pricing, stock manipulation and oil smuggling have become a day-to-day ordeal for the Filipino people, Anakpawis said.
Anakpawis also said the Aquino government should “declare the petroleum industry under nationalization and proceed with centralize procurement where the state will import oil products from countries that would offer the cheapest price for local consumption.”
“To further make petrol products truly accessible and largely cheaper to the consuming public, the government should remove the 12 percent expanded value added tax and other regressive taxes currently levied on oil products,” Anakpawis added.
The partylist said that thirdly, “in the name of national interest, the government should buy back Petron from its current owner, take over its refineries and other facilities and take the lead in nationalizing the oil industry.”
“As for Shell and Chevron, they can either leave the country and allow the government to take over their refineries and other facilities. As for small oil players, they can maintain their operations provided that they would be of great help to the public and would not turn into super monopolies,” Anakpawis added.
Anakpawis partylist pressed the leadership of both chambers of Congress to “undertake a separate or joint congressional inquiry on reported smuggling of oil products abroad which resulted in P 30 billion to P 40 billion in yearly foregone revenues on the part of the national government.”
Anakpawis also asked the Department of Energy (DoE) to name companies and individuals who are allowed by the government to import oil including but not limited to Petron, Shell and Chevron.
The group maintained that aside from big three, the DoE should also “bare the list of operators of export processing zones and other companies which are given permits to import oil and enjoy tax benefits and other forms of tax holidays from the government.”
The party list group urged Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and House Speaker Feliciano Belmonte to “take a brief respite from the current election campaign and call for a special session that would investigate the alleged massive smuggling of oil products in the country.”
”The oil deregulation policy of the national government is the main culprit behind the wholesale and syndicated smuggling of oil products across-the-country,” Anakpawis said.
It noted that “the oil deregulation regime provides the grandslam opportunity for ruling oil syndicate and their underworld clients not only to control the entire industry but also undertake gangland style approach to rake in more profits in cartel like manner.”
Earlier, Ramon Ang, Petron Corp. chair and chief executive officer, said between 2007 and 2011, the national government lost billions of pesos in tax revenues since one third of the total volume of petroleum products are smuggled.
He said that despite the increase in registered vehicles in the country from 5.5 million to 7.1 million during the period, retail or service station volumes of Petron have remained flat.
The Petron top official said in 2012, the country consumed 110 million barrels, of which 50 percent were imported as finished products. Ang asserted that uncontrolled smuggling in the country is a form of tax evasion.
