It was bound to happen and will keep on happening. The oil producing countries can increase the prices of their oil anytime, as what had been happening the past weeks.
The result? The galloping prices of basic commodities. It is quite easy to say that high fuel prices are the cause and not government or politicians, but tell that to somebody who was not able to have a decent breakfast due to lack of money, and he will respond with a kind of look. The kind with words kept inside, with contempt: “Keep your intellectual analysis to yourself. For me, it is just bullshit. It will not assuage my worries on where to get the next meal.” Such is magnified when the person has a family to feed. For us, Filipinos, a family is almost always a big one.
Really! The galloping prices of fossil oil is not new. It had been going on since the early 1970s—or for almost 50 years, almost half a century. But let us not go that far.
This administration is about to exit the portals of power. What had it done to come up with, and implement safety nets for us, the common people?
We can even make the time horizon shorter. The sufferings of people due to Covid-19 have already been going on for more than a year and yet no coherent response of government to quell the virus and take care of people’s basic needs has been implemented. And yet, look at the business sections of reputable publications and you see big corporations owned by a few families raking in profits in the billions of pesos.
Look at also the infrastructure projects being rolled out now. There is a lot of them costing too much money that could feed the less fortunate for the next 12 months. That is, however, not an option to the powers-that-be.
The projects are the way to spread the people’s money to political allies and minions. They will corrupt a huge chunk of it and all they have to do is campaign for themselves and for those in higher levels of power.
If they really cared for our pain and hunger, for our poverty, they could have used that money for good, to feed us, the people.
That, of course, is not sustainable. But what is? There is nothing on the table.**