MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Energy (DoE) is set to finalize until next week the timeframe for the review of the oil companies’ books, but it wants the independent oil players to similarly submit themselves to it in the spirit of fairness and transparency.

Energy Secretary Rene D. Almendras intimated that it should have been a "voluntary act" also on the part of the other oil firms affiliated with the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (IPPCA).

But since half of the industry’s players seem to be bereft of their own volition when it comes to becoming part of the process, he is now seriously considering sending them correspondence within the month to engage their participation.

“It is supposed to be a voluntary act, but since we have not actually heard from the other players, I will write to them. We want to have a fair and comprehensive review,” the energy chief stressed. He explained that the department is pursuing this exercise to provide the public a transparent venue wherein they would be able to re-assess and appreciate how pump prices are set in the deregulated downstream oil market.

The energy chief indicated that if the oil companies are not really hiding anything or if they are convinced with the pricing strategies they have been employing, then they should have nothing to fear in this new round of review of their books, financial statements and records of accounts.

It must be noted that the bigger oil players affiliated with the Philippine Institute of Petroleum (PIP) already volunteered to have their books subjected to new round of scrutiny – a follow-through to the 2005 and 2008 processes. It was chiefly anchored on the call previously made by President Aquino.

The review team has been designed to be coming from six sectors – namely transport, consumers, industry, academe, economics and finance/accounting. Observer status will also be granted to journalists via invitations channeled to the National Press Club of the Philippines (NPC) and the Kapisanan ng mga Broadkaster sa Pilipinas (KBP).

The individuals already invited by the department to be part of the review team are: Former Finance Secretary Jesus Estanislao; Former National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Director General and Economics Professor Solita Monsod; Former SGV Chair David Balangue; businessman and advocacy chair Raul T. Concepcion; Philippine Institute of Certified Public Accountants President Josefina G. Chua; Jesus Aranza of Federation of Philippine Industries; University of the Philippines Professor Rene Azurin; as well as Lawyer Vigor Mendoza and Zenaida Maranan (for the transport group).

Almendras noted though that most of the parties invited "expressed reservations" or have declined because they might not be able to commit a sizeable part of their time into the review process.