From K to K, part 2

Malacañang has a busy schedule lined up for President Aquino in pursuit of the government’s foreign policies. These are official activities to promote Philippine bilateral ties with neighboring countries and trading partners. Particularly of national interest are the slated state visits here one after the other of the heads of government of two tiny but oil-rich emirates in the Middle East (ME).

A little birdie from the Palace chirped to me that the heads of government of Kuwait and Qatar are due to arrive in Manila for state visits.

From what I gathered, the Palace red carpet would be first rolled out for Kuwait Amir, Sheik Sabah al-Ahmed al-Sabah, on March 26 to 28. The advance delegation of the Amir of Kuwait has already arrived to prepare for the state visit’s activities.

By the way, Kuwait marked its 51st National Day and 21st Liberation Day last week. Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alberto del Rosario led the Philippine government’s well-wishers in the reception held at the Makati Shangri-La Hotel.

Del Rosario acknowledged the warm and deep relations that we have with the Kuwaiti people as represented here by their ambassador, Waleed Ahmad al-Kandari. The Philippines was among the countries, through thousands of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) who helped in the rebuilding and reconstruction of war-torn Kuwait after its invasion by Iraq in the 1990s.

This is why the Royal Family of Kuwait was especially close to former President Fidel V. Ramos whose administration supported the United Nations-led reconstruction of their emirate. Governed under Islamic constitutional monarchy, Kuwait has been the generous host of thousands of OFWs through these years.

The Amir of Qatar, Sheik Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, is scheduled for his state visit on April 10 to 11. Like Kuwait, Qatar hosts thousands of OFWs who are sending petro-dollars to their families in the Philippines.

Both Kuwait and Qatar are members of the Organization of Petroleum-Exporting Countries (OPEC). Also, the two Arab countries are part of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) that supports the Philippine government’s peace process in Mindanao.

Kuwait is considered as one of the world’s richest countries. Its petroleum production alone is the single biggest source of Kuwait’s national income, as it has the fifth largest oil reserves in the world. Qatar, on the other hand, is one of the wealthiest states in the Persian Gulf because of its enormous revenues from rich crude oil and natural gas deposits.

According to our Department of Energy (DOE), oil companies in the Philippines import almost 80 percent of their crude oil requirements from the ME. And oil companies here source some of them from Kuwait and Qatar. Thus, the forthcoming state visits of the heads of government of the two oil-rich emirates are most timely and providential for the Aquino administration amid the rising crude oil prices in the world market.

As we grapple with the weekly increases in the prices of gasoline, diesel and other refined oil products, we could not help but count on our friendship with these two major oil producers in the ME to help us mitigate the impact of the oil price crunch in the world market.

For the first eight weeks of this year, we had had oil price hikes. Only last week, the price of gasoline was raised by as much as P1.35 per liter. Regular gasoline is now pegged at P56.95 per liter.

Much of the current oil price crunch has been largely blamed on the continuing Iran nuclear standoff with the US that has been causing instability in Persian Gulf states. At the Brent market, which is the benchmark for oil pricing, the recorded price of crude oil has, of late, been at $125 per barrel.

Oil prices in the world market are reportedly approaching last year’s record highs, as fears rise that the growing confrontation of the US with Iran will result in the scrimping of oil supplies. Iran is the world’s third largest crude oil supplier.

Last week, P-Noy announced that his administration was putting more money in the subsidy program for public utility jeepneys and buses to help them cope with the latest round of oil price hikes. So, despite the oil price hikes week after week this year, there have been no major demands for fare increases from transport groups.

The DOE activated late last month an oil price watch committee tasked, among other things, to look into reported complaints of alleged “cartel-like” pricing of the so-called “Big 3” as well as by small players in the domestic oil industry. But we have never heard anything on what this committee has done so far since it was convened.

By the way, the DOE is headed by Secretary Rene Almendras who is among the so-called “K.K.K.” (which stands for Kaklase, Kabarkada, Kabarilan) appointees in the Aquino administration. Almendras is a former classmate of P-Noy in Ateneo de Manila University like currently embattled Pagcor chief Cristino Naguiat Jr.

The DOE Secretary has been under fire for his lack of imagination to come up with out-of-the-box ideas to mitigate the impact of the worsening oil price crunch. Almendras, along with certain Palace spokespersons, merely mouths the official line that the Philippines is not an oil-producing country and therefore, is vulnerable to disturbances in the world oil market.

Hopefully, the state visits would present opportunities for administration officials to exploit our deep ties with the two ME nations. It would not be a bad idea to secure arrangements with them that could secure our country’s oil supply needs at “friendly” prices, perhaps.

Aside from the state visits of the heads of government of Kuwait and Qatar (pronounced as Katar), President Aquino is embarking on his first foreign travel this year to Cambodia. He is set to attend the leaders’ summit this year of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Phnom Penh on April 3-4.

Incidentally, Cambodia is formerly called Kampuchea. This is already stretching much the “K to K” of P-Noy.