The Department of Energy (DOE) now regulates adjustments in the country’s pump prices as consumers continue to grapple with elevated fuel costs due to the conflict in the Middle East.

In a press conference on Monday, April 20, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said this is part of the declaration of a state of national energy emergency, which allows the government to prescribe fuel prices.

“So both ways, ‘pag rollback siya dapat kung P24.95 [per liter] yan, dapat yung rollback would be equal or more than the P24.94/L. So pwede siya maging P25/L, pwede siya maging P26/L, pero hindi siya pwedeng P20/L lang. So kailangan sundan ng oil companies,” she said.

(It goes both ways. If there’s a rollback and it’s set at P24.95 per liter, the rollback should be equal or more than the P24.95/L. It can be P25/L, it can also be P26/L, but it cannot just be P20/L. The oil companies have to follow this.)

Garin explained that the mandated adjustments came after monitoring how gasoline stations were implementing price changes.

“Sometimes they don’t roll back prices or increase them, they do it differently. So we have decided to put a minimum or a maximum to make sure that what is being charged should also be charged also,” the country’s energy chief explained in a mix of English and Filipino.

Garin didn’t rule out profiteering when asked if the DOE observed these acts during their monitoring of gasoline stations. But she left the final verdict to the Philippine Competition Commission.

She also said that this makes it easier for law enforcers to find out if the uniform price adjustment is being followed by oil retailers.

Garin previously told senators that the current deregulated oil industry only works during good times. But since the Philippines heavily relies on imported fuel, the energy chief believes that the government should have a defined role in regulating pump prices during times of crises.

Play Video

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. on Saturday, April 18 announced a big rollback in pump prices effective Tuesday, April 21. Diesel prices are expected to drop P24.94 per liter, gasoline by P3.41 per liter, and kerosene by P2 per liter.

– Rappler.com