With High Oil Prices, the Poor Are the First to Suffer

Written by Romy Teruel of the Bohol Sunday Post Newspaper: The difference between economic growth and high prices is that with the latter, everybody, especially the poor, immediately feels it while with the former, the poor will feel it only, if they will at all, long after it is announced.

This is what is happening now. As soon as the price of oil breached $135 a barrel, pump prices immediately soared too. When it was announced that the country is affected by food crisis, the price of rice suddenly went up too. And people have to queue to buy cheaper rice sold by the National Food Authority. To this day rice has become an expensive commodity. But when Pres. Gloria Macapagal-Aroyo told the Filipinos that economic growth of 7.3% was attained last year, people asked when it would start to benefit them.

With high prices, the poor are the first to suffer while the rich won't feel it at all. With economic growth, the rich are the first to feel and benefit from it while the poor wonder whether they will ever feel it at all. The poor are always the last to feel good.

When fuel prices go up in the world market, the businessmen can immediately also increase their pump prices while the poor bus, taxi, jeep and tricycle operators have to seek government approval first, which takes a long time if they ever get it at all, before they can correspondingly increase transport fares.

Where is fairness and justice here?

The ordinary man will understand why pump prices must be increased because the price of fuel at the world market has increased. What they could not understand is why it will take so much difficulty to ask for raise in salary and wages for the worker. People have to eat. Children have to be sent to school. To deny workers a just wage is a violation of their human rights.

Perhaps the economists can tell the people the reasons for these in a layman's language - a language they can understand - because to the ordinary man these things don't make sense.

Why are businessmen allowed to pass on to their consumers the recovery of their systems loss, as in the case of Meralco for example? Why must the buyer assume payment of the EVAT for the commodity he buys? What is value added to a trip on the Ocean Jet, for example, when the passenger can't even see clearly the beautiful scenery outside?

In the light of these skyrocketing prices of practically everything, it is high time to revive the consumers watch. No one can protect the people from exploitation except the people themselves.

NOTES. For a while there the issue raised by some concerned latecomers on the Panglao Airport was drowned by the drainage controversy in Tagbilaran City.

Public officials should not be onion skinned on issues that have direct bearing on the everyday life of the citizens like the drainage in the city. The drainage problem was there for a long time. May be the city government is doing something about it but people failed to know what was being done. So when the rains came and the city experienced flooding, people are reminded of the problem.

Unlike the Panglao Airport that was there and studied for the last 20 years, the Tagbilaran City drainage project was there for completion for more than a year already. Its use therefore is long overdue.