THE Philippine Competition Commission (PCC) has committed to investigate the high prices for petroleum in Baguio.
A PCC official on Wednesday told the House Committee on Energy that they will be probing a disparity in petroleum prices between Baguio City and La Union.
Marikina City 2nd District Rep. Stella Quimbo previously asked the PCC in a Senate hearing to look into the price disparities between Baguio and La Union, which has been a long-standing issue.
Atty. Krystal Uy, director of the PCC’s Mergers and Acquisitions Office, added that the PCC has also commissioned a market study on the downstream petroleum industry.
In 2018, the Department of Energy (DOE) had already questioned the P6 to P9 per liter disparity in prices between La Union and Baguio, concluding that the cost of fuel for transporting petroleum from La Union oil depots to Baguio does not justify the markup.
Also, oil firms had been previously ordered by the DOE to explain what and how much of the operational expenses for the fuel suppliers are passed onto customers.
However, the oil firms refused to comply then, acquiring restraining orders against the DOE price monitoring efforts from Manila courts, claiming that the order would be a violation of the oil industry’s autonomy as a deregulated industry..
