News Release
August 9, 1999

TODAY, the League of Filipino Students (LFS) slammed the inability of the Estrada government to break down the monopoly of the 3 oil industry giants in the light of unhampered oil price increases.

"We want to reiterate once more that a deregulated oil industry in the midst of a cartel is short of suicide for the Filipino People. To dream of a level playing field by deregulating the industry while a cartel still exist is like looking for gold at the end of the rainbow," said Noel Colina, LFS National Chairperson.

This came as Petron virtually admitted the existence of the oil cartel. Petron stated that to break the control of the market by the three giant oil companies, the other competitors must at least grab 30% market share. Petron also added that it would take 8 years for this to happen.

"This admittance by Petron verified the correctness of our campaign for the scrapping of the oil deregulation law. Instead of breaking the back of the cartel, the law only strengthened the control of Shell, Petron and Caltex. It is impossible for the economic managers of this administration not to see this, and yet they continue to pursue the policy of full deregulation. Thisis a clear indication of the subservience of the Erap government to the interest of the companies for superprofit," said Colina.

Colina also stated that this development would strengthen the argument for the eventual scrapping of the oil deregulation law, the law that paved the way for the full deregulation of the oil industry. " The campaign against the scrapping of this pro-imperialist policy continues to gain ground. Even lawmakers from the ranks of the Lower House decry the destruction brought about deregulation. We definitely welcome this development," added Colina.###

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