Will Petron, Shell heed GMA’s call?

I recently read an interesting wire news item datelined Buenos Aires picked up by a local newspaper (not the Philippine Star) with the following headline, "Argentina forces Shell to cut prices." According to the news report, "Anglo-Dutch Shell gave in to pressure from President Nestor Kirchner, announcing it had agreed to lower its prices on some products in Argentina. Almost a month ago, Kirchner called for Argentines to boycott Shell after it announced a 4.2 percent hike in fuel prices amid signs of rising inflation in the country."

Yesterday’s banner headline in Philippine Star (April 10, 2005) was "GMA vows to break oil cartel." Is President Arroyo finally looking at some of Argentina’s radical approaches to solving the government’s economic woes? Or are these the usual media sound bites to appease the public as prices of oil products continue to rise?

There may or may not be an oil cartel. But definitely, the burden on consumers can only be eased, even temporarily, if the major oil companies, particularly Petron, would lower their profit aspirations at least during this period of crisis.

The much-ballyhooed review of the oil deregulation law is cosmetic. It will not reduce local prices and the government cannot afford to subsidize oil prices. The only way to lessen the full impact on consumers of the current volatility of world crude and petroleum product prices is for local oil companies to moderate their profit objectives, at least temporarily.

Is it not possible for the Petron and Shell refineries to fully optimize their production and provide finished products to local marketers at lower prices (not at a loss, of course) than what is prevailing in the market for imported finished products? Of course, the local refiners could always say that MOPS prices, which local importers are paying when importing finished products, is much lower than local cost of production.

Will Petron lead the way to temper, at least temporarily, the major oil companies hunger for profits? Will GMA do a Nestor Kirchner? Abangan.

Is Population Explosion A Crappy Excuse?

Population management continues to be a highly emotional issue, and to be on the fair side, I would like to give way to one of our readers who apparently does not agree with my views as espoused in recent columns. Here are some excerpts from Charlie Villanueva’s letter.

"I’ve been to Australia and their state governors there are urging their fellow Australians to have more children because their race is dwindling. An Australian friend of mine said: "We thought that if we are less we would have a bigger share of the pie but unfortunately we did not realize there’s not enough manpower to produce the pie."

"Even Singapore got its own share of (the problem) that when Lee Kuan Yew advised Singaporean women to have more children, he got a nasty reply: "That’s easy for you to say. Why don’t you get yourself pregnant?"

Out of the 130 countries in the world, 90 have a negative population trend.

"Well that’s what you get from having a contraceptive mentality. Twenty years back, Singapore was advocating population control, and since they are a very efficient country, they succeeded of course. Now, they are trying to reverse the tide. Unfortunately, it’s not working. Well, we don’t want this to happen to our country, don’t we?

"Population explosion has always been the crappy excuse of the so-called expert demographers and yet this old myth has always been proven time and again to be wrong.

"Poverty, unequal distribution of wealth and inadequate basic services is a result of a complex mixture of graft and corruption in the government among many other factors and not just due to a growing number of people.

"Authoritarian demographers only see people as mouths to feed and not as human resources. They fail to take into account that much of our countrymen are working abroad and are not here anymore to contribute to the "population explosion" and yet are contributing very well to our economy.

"Besides your comparison of Indonesia as a better economy than us is wrong. I don’t know how true your statistics (is) or where you got them but Indonesia has a lower per capita income than us. And don’t worry about Thailand. They will lose their people little by little to AIDS (they’re not just reporting it). They have the most effective natural population control.

"You claim to be more pro-life than the Church NGOs and religious institutions that are helping the poor since you advocate population control. What have you contributed to poverty alleviation aside from crying out aloud that we are too many and the place is too tight?

"You should learn from Erap. As the famous saying of Erap goes: "I’m thankful to my parents for not using contraceptives because I’m the 7th child in the family." Everyone deserves a birthday. You should be grateful of yours."

Responsible Parenthood

I am grateful that I have a birthday, and that my parents have been responsible enough to give me a decent education. Filipinos, being responsible parents, should be given the free will to choose the best method to manage the size of their families. I don’t think that the debate is whether a person should use or not use contraceptives.

Without doubt, population management should be viewed as a tool to help solve poverty alleviation, same as others such as addressing corruption, trimming down the bureacracy, and effective governance.

In the UP study, the academe pointed out that population momentum is enough to prevent a demographic winter in the next 100 years. We hope that by that time, the government would have tempered this momentum and managed our population growth such that our eight million overseas Filipinos need not leave their families to earn a decent living.

Theoretically, the economy should be able to provide jobs for its citizens. But since this is not happening – and may not be expected for some time – most of our graduates consider leaving the country. You must agree that this is not the ideal way of bringing up a family.

The extent of our poverty may not be as grave as that of Africa, but only because we are fewer by comparison. This does not mean, however, that the poverty and hunger around us is not serious enough. As true Christians we should now act. What we need are true pro-life proponents who will make sure that every baby born into this world will not only have a birthday but is nourished and nurtured in the best way possible.

Past Laurels Not Enough

The Department of Trade and Industry has named Mandaluyong City as "The New Tiger City of MetroManila," while the Asian Institute of Management dubbed Mandaluyong as "The Second Most Vibrant City Economy in the Country." To the credit of former Mayor Abalos and now Mayor Neptali "Boyet"Gonzales II, the city of Mandaluyong so far is living up to the distinction it received.

This achievement of growth, however, is not without pain. Streets within the previous municipality are not geared for the fast paced expansion of commercialization. Traffic congestion is a common sight in the main thoroughfares. Flooding normally occurs at the slightest downpour as the drainage system gets clogged up by debris of ongoing constructions and waste generated by growing populace.

As Mandaluyong starts its twelfth year of city hood, will Mayor Gonzales and his team be able to craft new programs to address infrastructure development, delivery of basic social services to expanding communities and to resolve the plight of distressed communities such as Welfareville, Hulo and Addition Hills? Or, will Mayor Boyet Gonzales just rest on the laurels of the past Abalos regime?

Join us in "BREAKING BARRIERS" on Wednesday, 13th April 2005, IBC-TV13 (11 pm), and gain insights into the views of Mayor Neptali "Boyet" M. Gonzales II of Mandaluyong City on various issues related to Mandaluyong and surrounding areas as the city plans for future growth. Watch it.

Should you wish to share any insights, write me at Link Edge, 4th Floor, 156 Valero Street, Salcedo Village, 1227 Makati City. Or e-mail me at [email protected]. If you wish to view the previous columns, you may visit my website at http://bizlinks.linkedge.biz.