Palace urges ‘strong consumer pressure’ vs oil firms

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang on Wednesday urged "strong consumer pressure" on local oil firms to lower fuel prices, as it admitted the government cannot determine whether existing pump prices are justified. In a radio interview, Press Sec. Jesus Dureza virtually said consumers are on their own in seeking for lower oil prices since there is presently no mechanism to ensure that the oil companies are equitably passing on costs to consumers. "Government must see to it there must be a verifiable way they are passing it equitably to consumer. (Until then) we must have a very strong consumer pressure on the oil companies," Dureza said in an interview on dwIZ radio. Dureza added that the government cannot perform an audit because the oil industry is deregulated. Besides, he said players in the oil industry are private firms, and the Commission on Audit (COA) can only audit government functionaries and institutions. "There must be a way to have some kind of verification on the part of government... In the price of crude oil, market forces will determine that," Dureza said. - GMANews.TV