Marcos on repealing Oil Deregulation Law: Nothing's being discounted

''Nothing is being discounted.''

This was the response of President Ferdinand ''Bongbong'' Marcos Jr. on Friday when asked for calls to repeal the Oil Deregulation Law.

Marcos said the administration's focus, at present, is to immediately provide assistance to ease the burden of sectors affected by the tension in the Middle East. The conflict had resulted in double digit prices in oil products in the past weeks. 

''As I said before, nothing is being discounted, ibig sabihin lahat ng maaaring gawin upang mayroon tayong magawa para tulungan na pagaanin ang epekto ng gyera sa Middle East ay pinag-uusapan,'' Marcos told reporters in Laguna. 

(As I said before, nothing is being discounted, meaning everything that we need to do to help ease the burden caused by the Middle East conflict is being discussed.) 

''But what we are focused now is immediate, you know we will have to amend the oil deregulation mahaba pang diskusyon 'yon (it's a long discussion). I don’t know when it will come out. Our focus right now is what we can do immediately kagaya ng sinabi ko sa statement ko kung ano 'yung maaari kong paratingin kaagad na tulong sa taumbayan (our focus is the immediate assistance to the public),'' he added.

Groups and opposition lawmakers have called for scrapping the Oil Deregulation Law amid rising pump prices.

Senate President Vicente Sotto III has filed Senate Bill No. 1984 seeking the total repeal of the said law. 

Republic Act No. 8479, or the Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998, removed the government’s power to control fuel prices to help oil companies become more competitive with their supply and pricing of petroleum products. 

“It shall be the policy of the State to liberalize and deregulate the downstream oil industry in order to ensure a truly competitive market under a regime of fair prices, adequate and continuous supply of environmentally-clean and high-quality petroleum products,” the law said. —AOL, GMA Integrated News