Philippines clears Big 3 of anti-trust charges

A joint task force of the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) has cleared the three largest oil companies in the Philippines of charges of forming a cartel. The task force found a lack of evidence to show that Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp., Chevron Philippines Inc. and Petron Corp. violated the anti-trust provisions of Republic Act 8479, the Oil Deregulation Law. However, civil society group Social Justice System (SJS), which had accused the three companies last year of monopolizing the Philippine oil trade, said it remains skeptical of the task force’s decision. (February 19, 2009)