UniTeam senatorial candidate Gilbert “Gibo” Teodoro has expressed support to the establishment of a national oil reserve to mitigate the country’s vulnerability from disruptions in the global oil market.

In a statement Friday, the former defense secretary said the government should fast-track the development of a program to establish an oil stockpiling program in order to be prepared to stock up petroleum once fuel prices go down.

“The problem of high oil prices is not new to us, but we have been passive in providing solutions when an energy crisis arises. It is time to be proactive and present feasible measures, and I believe that stockpiling is one of them,” he said.

Teodoro added that the Department of Energy has been planning for oil stockpiling during the early months of the pandemic as it saw the opportunity of buying fuel prices in the world market, which at that time plunged to below USD20 per barrel.

He also cited that the Philippine National Oil Company (PNOC) in September last year bared plan of establishing a National Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

“I support this move, but the concerned agencies should double time in crafting a program on oil stockpiling,” said Teodoro, who served as an executive in various private sectors in the past decade.

Local oil prices have increased for six weeks in a row, and another price hike is seen next week.

Based on monitoring, some oil stations pegged gasoline prices at around PHP70 per liter.

Teodoro said he wants to accelerate the crafting of the program for the country to be ready to buy petroleum products once global prices decline, stock it and use it for domestic needs once prices start to increase. (PNA)