6 of 10 Pinoys want Oil Deregulation Law repealed - IBON

MANILA, Philippines - Six out of 10 Filipinos want the oil deregulation law repealed to get relief from rising fuel prices, according to a survey by militant think tank IBON Foundation. But the survey, conducted April 7 to 16, showed a slight increase in the number of respondents who were undecided whether to repeal the law or not. "Results of the April 2008 IBON survey showed that 58.6 percent of respondents said they agree with proposals to restore government regulation of the local oil industry and repeal the Oil Deregulation Act (RA 8479). The law, which was implemented in 1998, removed government control over the downstream oil industry," it said. IBON said Wednesday its survey, conducted April 7 to 16, had 1,495 respondents and had a margin of error of +/-3 percent. The survey asked respondents if they "agree with the proposals to return government regulation on the oil industry and to repeal the Oil Deregulation Law." Of the 1,495 respondents in the April survey, 876 (58.60 percent) answered yes. This was less than the 891 (59.28 percent) who favored the repeal of the law in last January's survey. Some 369 respondents (24.68 percent) answered "no" in the April survey, slightly less than the 383 (25.48 percent) who answered "no" on the first month of this year. On the other hand, about 235 (15.72 percent) said they "don't know.” This was higher than the 218 (14.50 percent) who gave a similar answer last January. Fifteen (1.00 percent) gave no answer, a slight increase from the 11 who gave the same response last January. - GMANews.TV