STATEMENT OF SENATOR WIN GATCHALIAN ON THE SUSPENSION OF THE PNOC-EC PRESIDENT OVER RUSSIA DEAL

The suspension of Philippine National Oil Company Exploration Corporation (PNOC-EC) president and chief executive officer (CEO) Pedro A. Aquino for approving a memorandum of agreement with a Russian firm for the development of a multilateral cooperation in oil products and trading, and joint participation in oil refining without the permission from the board or from Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi highlights the need for a clear policy direction for the entire PNOC family.

We could have prevented this situation if we had a more focused PNOC. Unfortunately, the PNOC is spreading itself too thin by doing different things when its focus should be on oil and gas exploration. The PNOC EC is supposed to be tasked with exploration, but this recent deal shows its intent to go into petroleum trading. Meanwhile, the PNOC mother company wants to go into LNG, while the PNOC Renewables Corporation (RC) is building solar rooftops.

We plan to remedy this situation by championing in this Congress a measure that will restructure PNOC by abolishing its existing subsidiaries and directing its focus away from non-exploration activities. The bottom line here is that we will refocus the PNOC to purely upstream oil and gas so that it will contribute in securing the country's energy needs.