Salceda proposes 4 'Oil Deregulation Law' tweaks to quell fuel price surge
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman and Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda has proposed four amendments to the much-maligned Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998 (Oil Deregulation Law), which he believes will mitigate the rapid increase in fuel prices.

The Oil Deregulation Law liberalized the oil industry, allowing oil companies more power over their pricing such that the Department of Energy (DOE) could only monitor oil price fluctuation. This resulted in reduced government control on "pump" or retail fuel prices.
“The most important component of my proposal will be creating a strategic petroleum reserve that the government would stock during periods of abnormally low prices. This would help ensure adequate supply at affordable domestic prices during periods of high world market prices. When price increases are artificial or due to collusion among players, it will also help the state pop such bubbles,” Salceda said in a press statement on Wednesday, March 2.
“The second component will be requiring the unbundling of retail prices of fuel. I was pushing the to give us similar data last year, although their ability to really do this is limited because there is no legal requirement for fuel companies to unbundle prices.”
The House leader continued: "The third component will be requiring all fuel outlets to update any change in retail prices in a central government database for efficient monitoring. It will allow us to monitor and act on abnormal price changes.”
“The fourth component will be price transparency," Salceda said.
"The database that retailers will update will be made available and presented in an easy-to-navigate format for the consuming public, so that they can make informed decisions about their purchases,” he explained.
Salceda bared these proposals in response to the House’s call to amend or repeal the Oil Deregulation Law.
He also made suggestions to the public transportation sector last Feb. 26, which he thinks could save the country P1.4 billion in fuel cost every day.
Fuel prices have spiked for nine consecutive weeks, in large part due to the effects of the Russia-Ukraine war on world crude prices.