Senatorial candidate Herbert “Bistek” Bautista called on the government to consider buying back oil firm Petron to have a vehicle in pushing fuel prices down.
“In the long term, I think we really need to get Petron back,” he said.
He said buying back Petron would allow the government to compete with private fuel dealers when prices are unstable.
“They will all go to us, those refueling will go to the government because it’s less expensive,” Bautista said.
Bautista made the statement as government policymakers scramble to find solutions to tame fuel prices amid the ongoing Russian invasion in Ukraine that sent oil prices spiraling.
“That’s indirect subsidy to the total chain of gasoline users… That means prices of other goods would not go up. Transport fare won’t go up because prices of gasoline are low,” said Bautista, who implemented alleviation programs to ease fuel price increases as mayor of Quezon City for three terms.
Alongside efforts to buy back Petron, Bautista said the government should also consider reviving the Oil Price Stabilization Fund (OPSF), which was scrapped when the oil industry was deregulated.
“If worse comes to worst and the private sector can’t cope anymore with high gas and oil prices, the OPSF would have funds to give help directly,” he said.