Camarines Sur 2nd district Rep. Luis “LRay” Villafuerte has urged Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Raphael Lotilla to establish the strategic petroleum reserve (SPR) plan amid the runaway prices of fuel, food, and electricity.

“One way for the incoming administration of PBBM (President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr.) to stabilize pump prices petroleum products on the watch of Secretary Lotilla—and shield consumers and motorists from the debilitating effects of sky-high prices of gasoline and fuel—is to put up an SPR or storage facility to let the government bring in additional inventory that could help soften future price surges,” Villafuerte said on Tuesday, July 26.

“ looking forward to the prospect that it wouldn’t be business-as-usual at the DOE, where this SPR plan had sadly crawled at a snail’s pace for more than two years running on the watch of then-Secretary Alfonso Cusi,” Villafuerte continued.

Cusi previously said that the DOE would establish an SPR.

Read: https://mb.com.ph/2021/09/22/doe-seeks-to-establish-strategic-petroleum-reserve/

Villafuerte is hoping that Lotilla would lead the DOE toward establishing an SPR to alleviate the rising cost of fuel.

“We are hoping that with Lotilla, a highly-regarded technocrat and veteran in the energy sector, at the helm of the DOE , the government would at last take a long look at the SPR plan, which has unfortunately been stuck in the planning stage at the DOE for over two years now,” he continued.

“We can only keep our fingers crossed now that it would be different this time around at the DOE on the watch of Secretary Lotilla,” Villafuerte added.

From 2005 to 2007, under the Arroyo administration, Lotilla took on the mantle of DOE secretary.

“Energy officials must drop their lackadaisical approach and put this SPR plan in motion in preparation for future conflicts, supply hitches or any other geopolitical developments or catastrophes that could drive fuel prices to later go up,” the solon concluded.