One taxi driver said that we will not be affected by the war in Ukraine because we are too far. According to him, he heard that from the radio. He did not know he was going to pay more for diesel fuel within a few hours. The additional amount of P200.00 he will have to shell out at the diesel fuel pump for a day on the road was quite substantial for somebody who was buying rice by the kilo or who was living a hand to mouth existence. And yet our not going to be affected was what got drummed into his head.
That is the kind of brains our people have on economics. Perhaps they never heard of the law on supply and demand. Reportedly, when President Ramon Magsaysay asked his economic advisers why prices of basic commodities were going up, they answered, “Sir, because of the law of supply and demand.” To which he replied, “Repel that law!”
Easy to say but how could one influence the output of oil fields in Ukraine and nearby countries, for instance, which had to stop pumping oil due to the war? How could one reverse the decision of the US and other economically developed countries to release their oils reserves to increase the supply on the market?
Those countries are so far away and yet the effects of their decisions can be felt by us within a day or two.
How about our government? The advisers of administrations or presidents know very well about the law of supply and demand and its implications, but to advise the right course of action without political considerations and the effects of selfish interests are altogether another matter.
So many decisions based on advices that were not in the interest of the people but for those in power had made our lives difficult.
A big example was the sale of the government’s interest in the Malampaya gas reserves. That could somehow take care of some of the energy needs of the country today and in the near future. As things had turned out, such reserves will take care of making the wallet of a Presidential crony even thicker, and the wallets of his friends at the top most rungs of political power in the country.
So before you curse anybody due to high prices, curse first those in the highest positions of government whom you voted for.**