ON-IONity would not suffice

LEONARD TUCJAYAO

History is a living proof of when people tear up as they slice a bulb of onion. However, an unprecedented phenomenon emerged in the height of a brand new administration of the Philippine political paradigm as people began to cry no longer because of the enzymes and sulfenic acid that, when combined, produce a gas that irritates the eyes, but because of the heightened price in the market, ranging from P500 to P700 as the inflation rate continues to blow up. Even though this event has not been new to the public as the country is still on its way out from the repercussions brought about modern-day plague, the government could have still mandated necessary measures that would halt the substantial upswing of the cost of goods and services in the market which continue to burden the lowest echelon in the society. True to words, it seems like the government is wearing earphones and failing to hear the status quo and the cries of the people toward the country’s billowing financial crisis.

In a report released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the latest inflation index in the country in December 2022 closed at 8.1%. This is a slight increase from the month of November, but nonetheless, this is the highest record reported since November 2008, when it reached 9.1% during the 2008 Great Recession. Significantly, the annual average inflation rate in 2022 rose to 5.8%, an approximate 2% increase from 2021’s 3.9%— a figure that is clearly and without a doubt true that even the president of the country could not disagree with, just like how Pres. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos did when the inflation rate hit 6.1% in June.

On the contrary, according to Marcos, the primary factor that drove the substantial spike in the cost of goods and services in the country is ‘imported inflation,’— putting the blame on the US dollar value, globally soaring fuel prices, agricultural inputs, and other imported products. Sure, a resounding influence that propelled the Philippine economy to the forefront of the international community was when Russia aggressively waged an invasion against Ukraine, which steered the international market’s fuel stability and food supplies. Moreover, the superpowers’ defensive measures not only to contain local inflation but to prepare for war with Russia worsened the situation; the US, for instance, meticulously raised its local interest rates, which strengthened the value of their dollar, caused a drastic impetus on the slump of the Philippine peso, which made our imports relatively expensive.

However, we can observe that in the released data of the PSA, the biggest factor according to the heightened inflation comes from the food and non-alcoholic beverages which accounted for a total of 5.9%. This manifests that gone are the days the government, most critically Marcos, could justify its lackadaisical actions and point once more the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine-Russia conflict. The government should not only justify its course of action by saying that inflation is running ‘rampant and out-of-control’ and continue to spout promises on thin air that the country is on track toward maintaining economic performance, and proportionally let the most vulnerable actors suffer the consequences of their inefficiency and incompetence. As asserted by Ralph Van Doorn, a senior economist of the World Bank, heightened inflation inflicts the most menacing ramifications on low-income families where inflation shakes off wage growth, which is their primary source of income and survival. Hence, it is now high time to call on the government to impose policies that would resolve the issues of financial instability in the country.

Congruently, in the height of the cost increase of the commodities in the market, contractionary monetary policy is employed by the government to combat the economic repercussions brought about by the heightened inflation rate. Imposing this would reduce the rate of monetary expansion. However, controlling the outflow of money do not relatively address the issues on the purchasing power and the ramifications manifested in the increase of commodity prices because controlling the capacity of the business sector would relatively result to job separation and higher unemployment rate, which knowingly would negatively affect the financial capacities of the people. What the government should enforce instead is the formulation and implementation of progressive fiscal policies with the consideration of the vulnerable sectors in the structure, which includes the recalibration of our existing policies like the sin tax law. Through this strategy, the government’s fiscal standing would be positively stirred and the government would be able to generate additional revenues to cater to the pressing issues of increasing commodity prices.

On the one hand, the government should cease employing lackadaisical policies such as that of the importation initiative by the Department of Agriculture. It could be recalled that the government’s strategy to decelerate the price of onions in the market is to allow the importation of 21,060 metric tons of onions. While it is imperative as the law of supply and demand would assert that when supply exceeds demand, commodity prices will commensurately fall. While this economic principle still holds true, this strategy would still widen the susceptibility of further burdening the domestic onion growers and producers, especially Filipinos who largely and only rely on the production of onions, as this would translate to the procurement of the local harvest to a lower price cost and worse, to the exploitation of unscrupulous traders of our local farmers.

On the other hand, it is already high time that the government considers and checks our domestic manufacturing capabilities and invests in our people, among others. The country, as the local onion growers would argue, has a sufficiently enough supply of several products like onions; however, it was only that commodity prices can no longer be tamed as the government allows wild distributors and smugglers to hold on to their stock and manipulate the pricing system.

Notably, it is of great optimism that the Philippine Central Bank foresees that the heightened inflation rate in the country is projected to decelerate in the coming months due to the easing of the global economy, the government should impose both short-term and long-term solutions to ease the economic crisis of the country without further marginalizing those in the lower echelons. The government, especially the chief executive, should cease holding nonsensical Malacañang parties and holding out-of-the-country trips and instead face the responsibility he signed up for when he wanted power when he ran and sought office because it was democratically granted to him. What seemed to be Marcos’ P20per-kilogram-of-rice election promise is now realized in the status quo, long before the termination of his presidential term, but it was not in the price of rice that the manifestation was observed but in a single egg. Truly, unity alone cannot dry the tears of those on the pedestal of society. May those who are in power, like the president, take their earphones off and permit the power of the onions’ enzymes and sulfenic acid to make the ordinary citizens tear up once more, not their upsetting price.

Hindi babyahe kung hindi tataasan ang pamasahe.

Nakaririndi nang pakinggan ang madalas na litanya na “Pila hatag nimo, ga?” ng mga traysikel drayber sa bawat pagkakataong may sasakay sa kanilang pinapasada. Tuloy man sa pagtakbo ang kanilang gulong ngunit ang presyo ng pamasahe ay walang bakas ng pag-urong. Ang dati nang butas na bulsa ng maraming MSUan ay patuloy na mabubutas ang lalagyan. Mas hihigpitan pa ng mga nagdaralitang mag-aaral ng pamantasan ang sinturon sa kakatipid– malala pa ay ang iba ay halos hindi na makahinga sa sobrang higpit.

Sa isang Facebook post noong Disyembre 2, 2022 ni John Dave Pacheco, mag-aaral mula Mindanao State University-General Santos City (MSU-GSC), ani nito na ilang beses na itong nakasasalamuha ng traysikel drayber na palagi siyang tinanatanong

“Pila imuhang hatag?” sa bawat kanyang pagbabasakaling makasakay mula Purok Malakas-GSC tungong KCC Mall. Hindi na bago pa ang nanghihingi ng dagdag 10 piso sa pamasahe na kung tatantuin ay 20 piso ang kinaugaliang bayad mula Malakas papuntang establisiyemento ng mga mall sa lungsod magmula nang magpademya. Ayon pa sa opisyal na fare matrix na inilabas ng lokal na pamahalaan ng General Santos City noong Agosto 20, 2022, nasa P18 ang pamasahe sa tricycle sa unang apat na kilometro at dagdag na dalawang piso sa karagdagang kilometro. Para sa mga Senior Citizen, Persons with Disabilities (PWDs), at mga estudyante, nasa P14.40 naman ang pamasahe sa tricycle sa unang apat na kilometro at dagdag na dlawang piso sa karagdagang kilometro. Naaayon ang matrix na ito sa Seksyon 120 ng Ordinansa numero 37, Serye 2018, na ina-