March 11, 2026
MANILA – Concerns on how oil companies are selling petroleum products — like allegations that fuel purchased before the Middle East conflict is now being sold at high prices — might be a signal to revisit the oil deregulation law, according to Marikina Rep. Miro Quimbo.
Quimbo, chairperson of the House of Representatives’ committee on ways and means, admitted on Tuesday that the chamber should check on possible amendments to Republic Act No. 8479 or the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998, which liberalized the oil industry and gave companies free rein over prices.
The lawmaker said this during the panel’s hearing, after Navotas Rep. Toby Tiangco asked oil companies why they cannot immediately impose excise tax suspensions, yet are able to raise prices despite products purchased before prices skyrocketed.
“So, in case (we amend the law), what is the disadvantage if we regulate it again?” Tiangco asked.
“I think this will be a long discussion, but I think that is what these past hearings have raised. As I have said, you only realize that there’s a problem if you face a grave problem on your hands,” Quimbo replied in Filipino. “You realize that your roof has holes, that you have to fix it, when the storm comes.”
“When there is no typhoon, you do not see these things. I think it’s something that really needs attention, that we revisit the oil deregulation law,” he added.
Tiangco echoed the concerns of several lawmakers who questioned why oil companies are now imposing fuel hikes for products which were purchased at a lower price, just before the Middle East conflict.
Quimbo told the Navotas solon that the committee has been discussing this issue for more than an hour, but they have yet to get an answer from the oil companies.
However, Quimbo said he believes oil companies simply do not want to admit that, as a regulated industry, players are allowed to make their own decisions about how prices will be.
“We have been talking about this for one hour, we still cannot understand this, they have been trying to explain this since earlier. But for me, the simple reason I can see, which they cannot explain immediately, is that the oil industry is an entirely deregulated industry, so this means it is true that they decide on the prices regardless of how much they were able to buy their existing supply,” he said.
“If prices increased there, then we can increase our prices also, regardless if we bought this at a cheap price. So if we were able to buy this at P10,000 yesterday, but a war sparked tonight, prices at the MOPS (Mean of Platts Singapore) doubled, then we are lucky because we got it at P10,000, and now the price is at P20,000, we can sell at a higher price,” he added.
Quimbo said it seems that oil companies do not see this as taking advantage, but as a mere stroke of luck that prices spiked.
“So there are no limits, no one regulates their income because it’s a free market. So we always ask why they are selling it at a high price when you bought it for cheap. So you’re taking advantage,” he said.
“But for them, ‘we’re not taking advantage, we’re just looking at our international standard that changes every day, so we are lucky that prices increased while we had old stock, we can sell it tomorrow and for next week because that price will stay’,” he added.
During the earlier part of the hearing, this irony was raised in contrast to the oil company representatives’ admission that any suspension of excise taxes on fuel would not be felt immediately.
Quimbo asked Tanya Samillano of the Independent Philippine Petroleum Companies Association (IPPCA) whether they can cut fuel prices once the government suspends excise taxes on fuel. In response, Samillano said that if the excise tax is suspended today, price changes would not take effect tomorrow.
READ: Oil firms admit: Excise tax suspension won’t be felt immediately
Quimbo then asked if the problems with implementing an excise tax suspension come from oil companies having already paid the excise tax, or upon receipt of the fuel or crude oil shipped to the country, which Samillano confirmed.
According to Samillano, under the current setup, oil companies pay the excise tax — at P10 per liter of gasoline and P6 per liter of diesel — and are reimbursed only when consumers buy fuel at pump stations.
Since the companies’ stock fuel has already been taxed, they must empty their stock and wait for the next shipment, which will no longer be subject to the levy.
However, Samillano was questioned by Manila Rep. Rolando Valeriano about why oil companies are now claiming that product prices cannot be slashed, as these are old stock, when price hikes were implemented for the same fuel purchased by the firms before the Middle East conflict.
Previously, the Department of Economy, Planning, and Development (DEPDev) warned that if the war in the Middle East drags on and ships carrying oil are hampered from moving through the Strait of Hormuz, diesel prices may rise to P96 per liter.
This worst-case scenario, Planning Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said, shows that an excise tax suspension may bring down diesel prices to P90.04 per liter.
READ: DEPDev warns: Worst-case scenario sees diesel hitting P96 per liter
On the other hand, the Department of Finance warned that the country may see a P136-billion decline in its revenues for 2026 if the excise tax on petroleum products is removed.
This is not the first time that lawmakers have quizzed oil companies and government agencies about the issue.
It was also Valeriano who raised this question during the committee hearing on Monday — to which Department of Energy (DOE) Director Rino Abad admitted that the oil deregulation law has kept the agency’s hands tied.
READ: Solons ask DOE: Why not stop fuel price hikes when firms use old stock?
Later in the day, Deputy Speaker David Suarez said he has filed House Resolution No. 852, asking the committees on energy and ways and means to investigate the system that leads to fuel price spikes. /das