THERE is a special place in hell for those who profit off their fellow citizens during the most unsettling times.
We have seen this in the past. During the pandemic, precious taxpayers’ money was squandered on items procured through a company with neither financial muscle nor track record in undertaking COVID-related transactions with the government. The goods were found to be either of shoddy quality or downright unnecessary. These were grossly insulting to the healthcare professionals who risked their own safety in order to serve the public.
Another example is the widespread and deeply rooted flood-control scandal, which erupted last year but has likely been happening for many years. While a few people have gone to jail, only a formerly jailed former senator is the biggest name among those facing charges. The Senate Blue Ribbon Committee has yet to get all committee members to sign the report’s draft.
Meanwhile, the lives and livelihoods of millions of Filipinos in flood-prone areas remain threatened every time there is a typhoon or even an erratic weather pattern. Contrasting these deplorable conditions with the opulent lifestyles and unapologetic behavior of those who raked in billions would make one wonder: where is the conscience, the humanity?
These days, the raging war in the Middle East has yet another consequence aside from the death, destruction, and displacement of ordinary citizens including our overseas workers there. Uncertainty is spooking the oil markets, with a crucial passageway for the global supply figuring in the conflict. Prices have started shooting up. It is difficult to tell whether the figures being cited are sound approximations or frantic estimates.
Fear and greed are also making themselves felt in more tangible ways. Fearing significant increases in the price of gas, motorists lined up to fill up, as some retailers jacked up their prices in anticipation of the higher demand and uncertain supply.
But they did so before they were authorized to hike prices. As a result, the Energy Department issued show cause orders to 55 retailers out of the 87 inspected. Adjustments could only be made beginning Tuesday, March 10, even as increases should be made on a staggered basis over succeeding days.
Measures to curb fuel demand are in place, as the world faces the consequences of a war that only a handful of individuals started. The next few days will determine whether the war will end soon, bringing things – and the prices of oil – back to normal. If it does, it will have taught us a lesson of being prepared to deal with the fallout of things we did not even have a hand on.
And if it does not end soon – then we will have to take in yet another crisis in our country’s already-difficult condition. The prolonged effects of war will certainly negate all the gains we have managed to eke out in the past few years. The government should prepare to protect the people over the long term, from the logical consequences of a disrupted supply chain, and from those who feel they must take advantage of others just to survive.
