By Billy Begas
The House Committee on Energy approved an unnumbered substitute bill seeking to establish the Philippine Strategic Petroleum Reserve (PSPR) System to protect the local petroleum market from sudden price spikes caused by global supply disruptions.
Committee Vice-chairperson and Murang Kuryente party-list Rep. Arthur Yap, who presided over Tuesday’s meeting, explained that the substitute measure would create a government-owned petroleum reserve to serve as a national buffer during supply disruptions, severe oil price volatility, natural disasters, geopolitical conflicts, and other emergencies.
Yap said the PSPR “covers government-owned petroleum stocks maintained exclusively for use during periods of supply disruption or severe oil price volatility.”
According to Yap, the reserve is necessary given the country’s dependence on imported crude oil and petroleum products.
Yap headed the technical working group (TWG), which drafted the committee report that reviewed the measure’s legal, technical, operational, financial, and policy implications, over the course of four meetings, with inputs from government agencies, the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC), and downstream oil and LPG industry stakeholders.
“The primary objective was to craft a measure that effectively strengthens the country’s energy security while preserving the principles of a competitive and deregulated downstream oil industry,” Yap said.
The substitute bill seeks to amend the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 (Republic Act 9513).
The committee also approved the creation of another TWG, also headed by Yap, to further discuss and harmonize other bills seeking to make solar power more accessible and affordable for households and small businesses by providing incentives, simplifying permit requirements, and promoting the use of solar panels and energy storage systems to allow consumers to generate and use their own electricity and reduce their power bills.
