Unnecessary Protest

Each time that there is an oil price increase, the Filipino people are the ones who get affected the most and belts need to be tightened a little more.

Jeepney drivers get angry. And most likely than not, they blame the government for allowing the oil firms to increase the prices of oil.

The April 18, 2004, jeepney strike in the Philippines was understandable. It is always the case that once oil prices increase, the prices of basic commodities increase, too.

However, I will always oppose any form of protest once the leftists start to join any protest. These people have nothing to do other than fuel the anger of the people instead of finding a solution to the problem. Puro sila angal. Wala namang ginagawa. (They are all complains. They don’t offer any solution.)

If I am not mistaken, once there was the Oil Price Stabilization Fund or OPSF. Oil prices then were a little higher so the government could save for an oil price buffer. These protesters demanded that the OPSF be scrapped. Now, they are demanding that the oil price deregulation law be scrapped. Don’t they have anything better to do?

Surely, asking the government to stop any oil price increase is like asking for the sun not to set. The oil prices at the world market are increasing. Then, there is the devaluation of the peso against the US dollar. What do these protesters expect? Street protests and jeepney strikes always eventually hurt businesses. Who businessman in his right mind would want to invest in the Philippines, then, if this is a usual occurrence? And then the next thing they would protest about would be the failure of the government to create jobs. This is a vicious circle. You always could expect the leftists to protest and blame someone else for the problems of this country. However, they fail to realize that they are the once who add insult to an already injured economy.

In the end, the whole protest was unnecessary. The drivers lost a day’s wage. Businesses lost a day’s work. The common office worker lost a day’s leave if he was forced to stay at home. The children lost one day of learning in school.

The protest was understandable but unnecessary.

And by the way, do these leftists ever work? I seem to find them in almost every street protest. If so, how do they earn what they eat? How do they support their families? Where do they get the money they spend everyday?