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Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Ledesma: Strike!
By Jun Ledesma
Sunbursts
"Let's stop being masochists, enjoying pain inflicted by our stupid selves. Let's put a stop to this self-defeating exercise of going on a transport strike. We are only pulling hunger and misery closer to our doorsteps."
I WILL defend the right of the jeepney drivers to go on strike but I do not subscribe to their folly of staging a strike to stop the prices of oil and its derivatives from spiraling.
It's an exercise in futility. It's a waste of time and opportunity to earn money that could go a long way in feeding the impoverished driver's family. It's only the radical groups who will celebrate if a transport strike succeeds for it will make life a little bit more miserable.
Communism thrives on poverty and so the more miserable life becomes, the more susceptible a prey one can be to Maoist doctrine. That's why the color of strikers is red. But that's another story.
The price of oil has shot to the rafters. What triggered this is the heavy industrialization of China whose growth dwarfed those of other economies in the world.
That unprecedented growth gobbled up most of what the oil-producing countries are pumping out from their oil wells. To aggravate the condition, the OPEC cartel put a cap on their production and with insufficient oil the price have breached the levels which were never in the minds of consumers and the cartel alike.
Richer nations, like the US, anticipating the cold winter and shortage of oil supply, stockpiled their oil reserves. On the other hand, developing countries maximized their industrial output.
Even as OPEC has opened their pipelines to satisfy world demands, what they produce is never enough. In the meantime, Juan de la Cruz suffers. Given the corruption in government bureaucracy and Congress, Juan de la Cruz is further boggled amidst the threat of having to pay more taxes and for the food he eats.
And so the drivers go on strike. They will miss two, maybe more, days of income to take part in a demonstration to protest and denounce the inability of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to bring down the cost of gasoline. If Bush cannot and the Americans, in fact, are paying more for their gas than we do, what else can GMA do?
I would probably join the strike if the agenda were something else. Like prodding the government to put more money to tap our own resources to reduce our dependence on oil imports. We have hot springs, rivers, waterfalls, natural gas reserves that are waiting to be tapped. Mindanao is not wanting in these; in fact we are so blessed with these natural resources. But we are not part of the Republic.
The government would rather develop Subic, Clark Field, set up more highways, metro rails and airports--all in Luzon. But we do not protest this iniquity. We want a Federal government but we lack the motivation.
We lost the inertia, our voice is pipsqueak. Our politicians are lukewarm to the whole idea because 99 percent of them have established multi-million mansions in subdivisions (just one example of how they live it up in their lucrative positions).
And yet, in our anger over oil price increase, we are capable of paralyzing transport. Why cannot we gun for something positive? Forget that which our government and government leaders have no control over.
Let's go for something where a determined leadership can achieve. If that leadership fails then that would be the time to storm Malacañang and Congress. Let's stop being masochists, enjoying pain inflicted by our stupid selves.
Let's put a stop to this self-defeating exercise of going on a transport strike. We are only pulling hunger and misery closer to our doorsteps. Let's think of alternatives like the suggestion of my barber who proposes that we should trade our mineral water with Arabian oil.
Come to think of it, our bottled water is more expensive than oil and nobody complains.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (April 19, 2005 issue)
Write letter to the editor.Click here.
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