A hard-working president

March 20, 2012 

BY DUCKY PAREDES
MALAYA

‘(I)t looks as if the time has arrived when the regime of higher oil prices is here to stay.’

CLEARLY, President Aquino is not a do-nothing president as proclaimed by those who would annoy him by “noynoying” would have us believe. Would he have the kind of popularity ratings that he continues to have if he were actually doing “nothing”? The masses are smarter than those who see everything in a negative way, who criticize whatever a sitting government does or does not do.

Sure, oil prices are up and rising; but, where in the world is this not happening? Nowhere, except, perhaps, in the countries where the oil is found underground. Those countries can give away the oil to their citizens while selling it at top prices to those who have no oil, countries like the Philippines.

So, what can one really do about it? Shall we, as Marcos did, control the price by supporting the previous lower price, incurring debts with the oil companies so that our transportation costs do not go sky-high?

What happened during the Marcos years was that we ended up owing billions to the oil companies.

The Oil Price Stabilization Fund (OPSF) idea seemed like a good thing at the time; eventually, however, the time came when we had to pay and, really, we did not have the funds to pay the difference, especially as it looked as if the time had arrived when the regime of higher oil prices was developing into a permanent one.

President Aquino on Sunday night said he will just ignore the “noynoying” — a gesture symbolizing inaction which is characterized by blank staring, while lying on the ground, like some lazy señorito – by members of wastrels who style themselves as “militant groups,” who may well be regarded as “ne’er do wells.”

The evidence of this President’s accomplishments include the construction in Metro Manila of new buildings, commercial establishments, and condominiums, road repairs and widening, bridge constructions, highway pavements, and flood mitigation projects, while sticking to the straight and narrow path,

The malls are packed with people who do not just pass the time but actually shop and dine.

The stock market broke the record 21 times during his 21 months in office.

PNoy must be doing something right for these things to happen and for the masses to continue to support him by constantly giving him very high popularity ratings!

“Basta gagawin ko ang palagay ko ay tama at palagay ko may resulta na nangyayari,” says the President.

Those who would bring down this administration say that the rising prices of oil and commodities and the continued poverty of Filipinos is solid proof that our president has been doing nothing and has accomplished nothing. Hogwash!

What can anyone do about oil prices and the continuing poverty of a people in a country where the educated would rather bring people down than help the country to move forward, where anyone else’s success invites sour grapes instead of fulsome praise from most sectors.

This government has given subsidies to PUV drivers, and loans and discounts for spare parts and accessories to transport cooperatives.

This subsidy is better than reducing the value-added tax on oil to bring down prices. In fact, this regime of higher prices ought to help convince us to conserve fuel. Yet, no one seems to be thinking along that line. Our technical people ought to be coming up with ideas on how to conserve and even putting forward a few inventions or gadgets that would cut fuel consumption in vehicles. Lower prices, especially lower prices for all from subsidized gasoline prices will raise consumption and demand.

Where are the inventive Pinoys who will have ideas about what can be done under the current regime of higher fuel prices?

In the meantime, it may not be such a bad idea to increase bus and jeepney fares. This might convince commuters to walk part of the way instead of taking a jeepney ride over distances of a kilometer or less; or MRT and LRT rides rather than bringing our cars downtown.

There must be better ways to live with higher oil prices than paying for it with our future which is what doing things like not collecting VAT on oil will do to us. Doing it that way will only encourage us to continue to waste fuel. We would even increase our use of oil for useless things even as we would have pawned our country’s future for a mere indulgence.

The President is doing the right thing in rejecting what the “militants” want him to do — take the easier path and to hell with nation-building!

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It could have been better; still, getting the bronze at the AFC Challenge Cup in Katmandu was the best ever finish for Philippine Football in international competition. What would have made it even better was if Turkmenistan had not scored their second goal. This gave us the loss in our first match in the Semi-Final round, which meant that the best we could do, after that match, was bronze. We did that in style.

While the Azkals is at present mostly made up of Fil-Euros, clearly, there are enough Pinoy players in the team who are also improving from day to day so that we can probably look to the day when there will eventually be more home-grown talent in our national team. A football team must be grown day to day, year on year, before it will become a champion team. That day will eventually come, however, thanks to the Azkals of today.

I have no comment on the alleged sexual harassment but I do think that when women venture into a male locker room, they do so at some risk to themselves, which they ought to always be aware of.

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