LAWMAKERS  called on the people to rally behind Malacañang’s Executive Order 839 that set the pump prices of petroleum products in Luzon at their October 15 levels after Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corporation sought a temporary restraining order against the EO before a Makati Regional Trial Court.
    
Anak Mindanao Rep. Mujiv Hataman also called on the country’s top players to help defend EO 839 as he reiterated his call for the government to expand the order nationwide following jacked up prices of petroleum products in Visayas and Mindanao.
    
Hataman said it is high time that the people and the government united against the oil cartel.
   
“People should support the EO and let’s call on all legal luminaries to help too.  This is a fight not only of Malacañang but the entire nation must fight against cartel and monopoly of the Big Three,” said Hataman, a member of the House minority bloc.
   
Earlier, the government rejected calls from the local and foreign businessmen to lift the EO 839.

House Deputy Minority Leader and Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Satur Ocampo urged the government to come up with more solutions to bring down the prices of oil products.
   
Ocampo said if President Macapagal-Arroyo is serious in getting the oil companies to obey, “she should immediately declare that she will prioritize legislative measures to repeal the oil deregulation law.”
   
He also said that the government should exercise strong control over Petron Corporation.
   
Speaker Prospero “Boy” Nograles, Jr. reiterated that oil companies must prove through full disclosure of their books that all their price adjustments have been reasonable and have not been bleeding the public through price manipulation or cartelization.
   
“There is also a discrepancy in pricing if we compare the Big Three with the small oil players. How come the small players which also imports oil just like the Big Three can afford to sell their products at cheaper prices? All these things should be adequately explained so that any price adjustment after the EO is lifted will not generate public uproar,” said Nograles.
   
Antique Rep. Exequiel Javier, who chairs the House committee on ways and means, asked the oil companies to make a sacrifice to help the country recover from the widespread devastation brought by the recent typhoons.
   
“The President’s directive will only be for a temporary duration while the state of calamity has not been fully removed,” Javier pointed out.
   
Javier stressed the government must exercise its powers to prevent predatory pricing, unreasonable pricing, cartelization, among others, which the oil industry players may resort to.
   
“This is the best time for oil companies to show their sensitivity and cooperation.”