Bayan Muna Chairperson Neri Javier Colmenares welcomed the Department of Energy’s (DOE) move to order oil companies to unbundle pump prices following Bayan Muna’s formal demand that the agency finally enforce its unbundling circular amid the national energy emergency and soaring fuel prices.
“This is a victory for the public’s right to information and a necessary step toward exposing possible price manipulation and excessive profit-taking,” Colmenares said. “For too long, consumers have been forced to accept pump prices as a black box, even as fuel costs climbed to extraordinary levels.”
It can be remembered that in a letter to the DOE on March 11 and another on March 30, 2026 Bayan Muna pressed the DOE to implement the unbundling circular stating that “it is important for the DOE to ensure that no overpricing is taking place and that oil companies are not exploiting the current volatility of oil prices to also unjustly increase their profit margin.” Colmenares warned that “The DOE will find it difficult to ferret out overpricing if the DOE is not aware of the actual cost of a liter of fuel and the profit margins imposed by oil companies.
Colmenares pointedly asked the DOE that while the unbundling circular was promulgated in 2019 and the TRO filed by oil companies lifted by the Supreme Court in 2024 “it is, unfathomable why the DOE refused to implement the 2019 Unbundling Circular as late as 2026 or nearly seven (7) years from the promulgation of such an important circular and nearly two (2) years after the Supreme Court lifted the TRO in 2024.”
Colmenares stressed that unbundling must not be treated as a mere compliance exercise, but as a tool for accountability, especially after months of steep fuel price hikes and growing public suspicion of cartel-like behavior in the oil industry.
“Unbundling should answer the basic question: what exactly are Filipinos paying for in every liter—import cost, taxes, logistics, and most importantly, profit margins,” Colmenares said. “If the DOE claims there is no overpricing, then the detailed breakdown should confirm it. If the data shows profiteering, then government must act.”
Bayan Muna noted that the DOE itself has cited a Supreme Court ruling affirming the agency’s authority to require oil companies to submit a detailed breakdown of pricing components under its 2019 circular, and that non-compliance may result in sanctions including possible cancellation of permits.
“Pinatutunayan ng kautusan ng DOE na may kapangyarihan ang gobyerno na singilin ng paliwanag ang mga kumpanya ng langis,” Colmenares said. “Ipatupad nang buo ang unbundling, huwag pahinain sa ‘guidelines’ na pabor sa mga oil firm.”
Colmenares also called on the DOE to ensure the timely release of meaningful public information from the submissions—protecting legitimate trade secrets while making public the key figures needed to safeguard consumers, such as aggregate and range data on cost components and margins, and the basis for weekly price adjustments.
“Dapat ilantad sa publiko ang mahahalagang datos tungkol sa gastos at tubo, lalo na kapag krisis at pambansang interes ang nakataya,” Colmenares said. “Pabilisin ang paglalabas ng impormasyon, at parusahan ang hindi susunod o magsusumite ng hindi makatwirang paliwanag.”
He added that transparency should lead to concrete remedies, including intensified investigation of coordinated pricing behavior, stronger enforcement against hoarding and profiteering, and broader measures to bring down fuel prices and protect workers, drivers, and consumers battered by the oil crisis.
“The DOE’s unbundling directive must be the start of real accountability—not the end of the story,” Colmenares said. “The public expects results: clarity on costs, exposure of unjustified margins, and decisive action against any abuse. The main culprit however is the Oil Deregulation Law which allows oil companies to increase oil prices by merely announcing it without any regulation. Bayan Muna has long filed a bill to repeal it. This is the proper time for the people to demand its immediate repeal. Panahon na para mag panday tayo ng bagong batas para sa oil industry. #
