The Manila Times
MANILA, Philippines — The president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands criticized on Saturday what he called the government’s “stupid” oil policy decisions, saying the sale of the state’s 40 percent stake in Petron and the removal of the Oil Price Stabilization Fund weakened the country’s ability to cushion fuel price shocks. Jose Luis Yulo Jr., president of the Chamber of Commerce of the Philippine Islands (CCPI), made the remarks during an ambush interview at the UP BGC campus on Saturday. “The government did a major mistake — they sold their ownership in Petron,” Yulo said. He said the government’s former 40 percent stake in Petron gave it partial control over where oil was sourced and access to figures that could help it influence fuel prices in the market. “So now they’re from the outside looking in. They have no control,” he said. Yulo said the government used to have 40 percent in Petron, while Saudi Arabia held another 40 percent and the remaining 20 percent was in the stock market. Asked whether the country still needed more industry players even as the Philippine National Oil Co. sought to build up inventory, Yulo sharpened his criticism and pointed to another scrapped mechanism. “A lot of stupid things the government did, selling out this ownership of a company that had all the information, they also took out the oil stabilization program or the OPSF (Oil Price Stabilization Fund),” he said. Yulo said the OPSF used to serve as a buffer by allowing the government to accumulate funds when oil prices were low and use them to prevent pump prices from rising too quickly when global costs surged.
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