THE MOUNTAINEER

Need of the hour:Price control
(Second of two parts)
EDISON L. BADDAL

BONTOC, Mountain Province -- It is an undeniable fact that greed tends to bare its fangs more acutely during difficult times such as what the country is undergoing now. Unscrupulous entrepreneurs seem to derive pleasure from fleecing the poor notwithstanding the latter’s meager resources.

For this nation, whose patrimony and wealth is skewed in favor of the less than one per cent of the population who are rich, the poor, which constitutes about 90 percent of the total population, are always at the receiving end of economic trouble.

The lower middle class are also affected by any economic meltdown although not as acutely affected as the poor. The rich, who enjoy the fruits of the economy, are virtually insulated from any economic trouble, as they are the ones dictating the economic policies. In fact, the ruthless among them are the ones responsible for hoarding, profiteering and cartels, three of the worst crimes on economic sabotage.

The rich consist of more or less 400 top-drawer landed families whose wealth could have been extracted from native Filipinos by their rapacious Spanish forbears. Joining them are Chinese magnates who are firmly in control of all business conglomerates in the country at the expense of the natural-born Filipinos who are virtually rendered second-class citizens.

Bracketed with them are the noveau rich composed of the notorious “ten, twenty,thirty percenters” from the ranks of elective officials and notorious usurers whose immoral usurious interest rates have impoverished many middle class families and bureaucrats. Included with them are some entertainment personalities who profited from the vast pennies paid by the poor to watch their vapid shows. ***
At this point, there is need to effect a price ceiling for basic necessities and prime commodities as there already exists an “artificial and unreasonable price in the price of basic necessities and prime commodities.”

By all means, the President should give a reprieve to the sufferings of the poor by issuing an Executive Order that will mandate a price ceiling for basic necessities and prime commodities.

Or this should have been initiated by the national and local price coordinating councils as they are tasked to conduct in-depth analysis on causes for the fluctuations of prices and changes in the distribution and supply of goods. They are likewise tasked “to coordinate and rationalize the price stabilization programs, projects and measures of the national government by stabilizing prices and supply of member agencies like the departments of Trade and Industry, Natural Resources and Health.
***
In a related manner, the provincial Liquified Petroleum Gas Task Force which is tasked to oversee, monitor and regulate the supply, distribution and fluctuation in the price of LPG in municipalities, component cities and barangays under its jurisdiction should be set in operation at this point. The increase in the price of LPG by 3.50 per kilo was no less precipitated by the oil price hike.

Some unscrupulous businessmen surely took advantage of the harsh economic situation to engage in price manipulation or hoarding so as to increase their gain from the crisis and thus further prejudice of the economically challenged. It is about time therefore that the price councils and the LPG Task Forces should be mobilized and reactivated to prevent price fluctuations of goods from going out of hand.

At this time, these bodies, which were organized more in compliance to Republic Act 7581, should be counted upon to do their share in the attainment of development by recommending measures to stabilize the prices, distribution and supplies of goods. On the other hand, they should also rationalize profit margin of the entrepreneurs in order to achieve a win-win situation for both sellers and consumers. With the inflation rate tending to get out of control, these bodies should have petitioned the President to place the prices of goods under automatic control nationwide.

Meanwhile, the big time politicians and their rich patrons should chip in a small percentage of their wealth to supplement the government’s efforts at cushioning the impact of the crisis on the poor. Maybe they could provide a sack of NFA rice for every dirt poor family from their resource. At this time, the poor are becoming poorer and several from the middle class are sliding down to poverty.

In contrast, the rich continue to benefit from the trying times notwithstanding by amassing more wealth as price increases benefit them no less. It is thus that politicians and the rich should feel for the poor by being patriotic enough to share with the government the burden of relieving the poor from their hard-pressed condition.

They will surely gain the sympathy of the poor in the process and will even be hailed as patriots and economic heroes. This smacks of unorthodoxy but for once the politicians could alter their campaign strategy by indulging in this unusual act even if it is not election time.

Finally, it is not a fallacy to state that democracy, which is the form of government that we have, is the government of the poor people, by the poor people and for the poor people. Hence, they are entitled to share with the rich the enjoyment of the resources of the country under an efficient and beneficial government.