Tuesday, May 13, 2008 Malig: Drive slowly, harder life ahead By Jun A. Malig Cognition
YES, it is better to drive slowly and avoid speeding and rapid acceleration. It's one way of improving your vehicle's mileage and saving gas, which is already priced at more than P51 per liter (gasoline) and is expected to skyrocket in the coming days as a convenient way for multi-national oil companies to "recover" something that they never lost.
The movement in the prices of petroleum products, particularly gasoline, diesel, and liquefied petroleum gas, automatically affects the prices of prime commodities, including food and services.
Transport organizations resort to transport strike. Some demand that the government should do something about the impact of the global oil price hike in our country by scrapping of the Oil Deregulation Law and the removal of the expanded value-added tax on petroleum products.
Some simply want to increase the fares they charge from their passengers.
I tend to sympathize with the transport groups with moral and social consciences. I frown upon the drivers who take advantage of their passengers -- the very sources of their income -- by mistreating, overcharging, or shortchanging them. I've written a few column articles over the past few years about abusive and ungrateful public transport drivers. I still receive the same complaints from some commuters.
Workers are still waiting for their much-deserved salary and wage increases.
Government workers have already received their fair share. They were reportedly given 10 percent salary increase.
Private sector employees, especially the minimum wage earners, must also get what they deserve in these difficult days.
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Below is the summary of some of the results of the survey conducted last month by the Ibon Foundation, an independent think-tank organization.
The survey was conducted from April 7 to 16 with about 1,500 respondents from various sectors.
71.51 percent of respondents said their income is not enough for their and their families' needs, while 25.42 percent said it is.
75.32 percent of respondents said that in the past three months they had difficulty buying enough food; 69.7 percent said they had trouble meeting electricity and water bills; 67.42 percent said they had problems paying for transportation; 73.38 percent said they experienced difficulty buying medicines and/or paying for medical treatment; and 68.23 percent said they had difficulty paying for their children's schooling.
64.35 percent of respondents said their livelihood today is worse compared to a year ago, while 30.03 percent said it is the same. Only 4.41 percent said their livelihood is better.
44.75 percent said there are no available jobs or livelihood opportunities in their area while 34.18 percent said that there are, but not enough.
79.33 percent of respondents said when they look at their situation today, they think of themselves as poor, while 15.79 percent said they do not.
58.6 percent of respondents said they agree with proposals to restore government regulation of the local oil industry and repeal the Oil Deregulation Act.
