Consumers Domain
Disasters and all
"We learn from history that we do not learn from history."
- Hegel
There are so many thoughts that are playing in my mind the past few days - significant events, important developments, and other fleeting thoughts. So here is the result.
On Leyte landslide
Tragedy upon tragedy, disaster upon disaster. In international news it seems that when the Philippines land in the main headlines it is most likely that a tragedy or another calamity occurred. As of this writing 1,800 are feared dead in Southern Leyte, buried under tons of mud and boulders.
We sure hope that these loss of lives and homes will not be for naught. We hope that these deaths will not only be an addition to statistical data. Let this be another lesson to all of us and especially to the government. We always end up simply reacting to disasters, but it seems that we are not keen on how to prevent such loss of lives and how to really be prepared in such situations. And when disasters happen, it is an irony how government responds with all this mobilization, budget and all. Many of these tragic incidents could have been prevented or at least its effects mitigated if only government in the first place invested significant resources to infrastructures and other measures that are geared towards handling such eventualities.
On oil prices
Now that the prices of crude oil and petroleum products are going down in the global market, we hope that local oil companies and retailers will adjust their pump prices immediately.
Based on the Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS), the benchmark used for finished oil products, the price of unleaded gasoline fell to $64.15 per barrel in February compared to $66.79 the month before. On the other hand, diesel prices also went down from $73.14 per barrel in January to $69.97 as of middle of February. Further, based on Dubai crude, which is the benchmark for crude products, average has been declining for the past days from the January average of $58.44 per barrel to $54.68 as of mid-February.
Well, despite the increase in VAT, these price movements in the international market are still enough to warrant a decrease in the local pump prices. When there is an increase in the prices in the global market, retailers are quick to increase their prices. Now, let's hope they will match those speedy action when the opposite happens.
On Semirara oil spill
More than 300,000 liters of crude oil spilled off the coasts of Semirara Island. The impact of such a disaster will certainly go a long long way, literally and figuratively speaking. NPC should be made to account for such damage especially to those who are directly affected, those whose livelihood and immediate environment were destroyed. Measures should be put in place that will make sure that such will never ever happen again.
On mining and environmental audit
I support the call of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC) for an independent environmental audit of all existing mining ventures in the country following various reactions of stakeholders on the recent statement of the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines on the Mining Act.
Contrary to government's claims, Republic Act 7942 or the Mining Act of 1995 is not improving the lives of the Filipino people specially those in the host communities. Yes it may indeed make a dent in economic figures but the realities on the ground is appalling - destruction of people's livelihood, pollution and damage to the environment, hazards to people's health, violation of rights of indigenous peoples and others.
But yes the government and mining companies still continue to trumpet the gains to the economy, the jobs that the industry creates, the taxes that will be collected, etc. The problem is, they are only focusing on the value of the extracted minerals but not the impact of the industry to the communities and the environment.
Thus, let us have a thorough environmental audit that accounts both the economic gains and the social costs and damage of all mining ventures in the country. I bet not one project of these mining companies will get a passing mark.
On Wowowee stampede, again
"Offering so few tickets to so many people can be likened to throwing a small slice of meat to a pack of hungry wolves. This triggered the stampede," said Interior Undersecretary Marius Corpus as quoted by national dailies.
I strongly subscribe to the metaphor used. Indeed there is a need to penalize those who tossed the "the small slice of meat". For such action was the immediate cause of the mayhem that resulted to the injury and death of hundreds of members of the "pack".
However let us not simply stop there. For us to discern the depth of the tragedy and be able to draw lessons from it, let us ask some reflective questions - Who created those "wolves"? What was responsible for the breeding of these "wolves"? And why are they so "hungry"?
Clearly, as I asserted in a previous article, poverty had a big role in shaping this catastrophe. Clearly, years and years of government neglect to the needs of the people had a big role in the disaster. It is without a doubt (in fact, long overdue) that the government should start tossing in the big slices of meat!
On a novel I just read
I just read a new book, The Kite Runner, a debut novel of Khaled Hosseini. It is a moving story of friendship, love, guilt and redemption set in a backdrop of a country and a people struggling for a better life, a better society. I recommend it.
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