THE tiff between Malacañang and oil players over Executive Order (EO) 839 brings forth images of a statue dance, that parlor game that is won by the participant who manages to stay immobile the longest once the music stops. The mechanics of the game is simple: dance and freeze, dance and freeze. It can have the variation of not showing one's teeth. But you know what we mean...

It could also be a page out of Ayn Rand's novel, "Altas Shrugged" published 52 years ago.

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EO 839 was issued by Malacañang after the throttling from a combination of typhoons, floods, and sheer neglect received by Luzon. It ordered a freeze in prices of oil products to enable the affected populace get back on an even keel without the added burden of a runaway oil price increase.

But, the way it's being played now is headed toward a disaster, a disaster to the public; not the oil players, not Malacañang.

EO 839 intended to hold prices at their mid-October levels. But beyond that, it doesn't show how simply freezing prices of oil products at pump level will lower cost of basic goods and materials for reconstruction.

Everyone knows that prices of basic goods rise due to a combination of a lot of factors: oil prices, transport cost, demand, supply, timeliness of delivery, and a whole world of other variables. You can freeze oil prices, but if this results to lesser means of transport and slower delivery ergo less supply, commodity prices will still go up. Moreso, while indeed oil price regulation is justified during times of calamity, it is -- like the combination of a lot of factors that contribute to increased prices -- just one of the actions that can be considered.

True, given the calamities that hit the national capital and the whole island of Luzon, some may say an oil price freeze should be imposed by government and fast.

Well, not when government has a tenuous hold on the industry it is trying to freeze. First, the oil industry has already been deregulated several years back. At around the same period, government sold off its shares in Petron. Meaning, government doesn't have anything to bargain with. Ergo, the oil industry, especially the major players, can legally assert full control if they want to, as they are doing now. Freeze the price, government says, and so they simply freeze the supply. Hoarding isn't even necessary. They will simply refuse to order. As one of the spokespersons said, no business will continue to operate at a loss.

And so, they do not order or have their orders delivered so they will not be selling at a loss considering that oil prices in the world market have already jumped onto the last quarter season of increased prices due to high demand during the cold season. They can simply let their dealers put up makeshift signs of "no stock", close their gas stations earlier than usual, or go on a vacation.

Who suffers the brunt? The motoring public, the commuters, the hapless pumpboy who has to take a vacation against his will and affordability, and all those waiting for commodities to be delivered. The brunt for what? Nothing it seems but a ploy to show that government can stand firm against the dictates of the oil industry that is really one big cartel because from the very start government had a very tenuous hold on the industry it sought to control.

People might just go around today asking, "Who is John Galt?", in remembrance of classic writer Ayn Rand in her novel, "Atlas Shrugged", where the capitalists went on strike and thus saw the world grind to a halt.

"We have no demands to present you, no terms to bargain about, no compromise to reach. You have nothing to offer us," said John Galt in the very long speech in the novel. Amid the underdog image the oil industry spokespersons are dishing out on print and television news, they could easily be echoing Galt in their hearts.