CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY (MindaNews/02 May)—For the second time, dealers of petroleum products of the so-called “big three” and other companies snubbed the City Council’s invitation to appear at its session.
“Big three” refers to Petron, Shell and Caltex.
Presiding pro tempore, City Councilor Ramon Tabor said they invited representatives from petroleum dealers in the city to shed light on the special report of City Councilor Edgar Cabanlas a month ago that fuel prices in Cagayan de Oro were much higher than in other cities.
In his special report to the Council, Cabanlas questioned the difference in the pump prices that he said amounted to as much P3.60 per liter.
“We have sent invitations to all the dealers here in the city.[]/a> with |||
We even sent the invitations as early as the middle part of April to ensure they could appear here at the City Council,” Tabor told his colleagues.
At the Council session Wednesday, only one—Seaoil—of the six invited dealers appeared. Petron, Chevron, Caltex, Shell, Jetti and Phoenix failed to send their representatives.
The companies did not inform the Council why they could not appear, Raul Moldez, City Council staff said when Cabanlas asked if the companies even bothered to explain their non-appearance.
“We have files of the invitations duly received by the companies but we have not received any communication from them why they could not attend today,” said Moldez.
“This is an insult. Do they think us an irrelevant body in the city that they can just snub without giving at least a short explanation why they cannot send a representative?
