new price: P38.35/ltr unleaded

[oldblue]

The world is full of paradoxes like these. Either we accept the compromise, or just stop doing whatever it was we were doing. But you ain't gonna stop driving, he ain't gonna stop texting, and the Dela Cruzes next door ain't gonna stop spending Uncle Boy's dollar gifts anytime soon.

you know what's the biggest paradox here in the Phils:

it's the transport groups! they always cry foul when govt. tries to control them such as phase-outing of old engines, old cars, 2nd hand imports, or even raising the price of diesel. They say they're being marginalized bec. they are poor, and the govt is anti-poor.

since we pinoys are suckers for the underdogs, the govt plays their game.

The result -> too many inefficiencies:

1. insurance premiums, instead na ma-invest sa mas productive na business venture. nauubos sa claims. coz of the traffic produced by these PUV's, nauubos ang pasensya ng matitinong drivers at out of twist of fate, nababangga or naaksidente.

2. health premiums, the same as above. nauubos sa claims. coz of the emissions produced by these unmaintained PUV's. sobrang dami nagkakasakit ngaun di nila alam nagsimula pa yun 10-20 years from the respiratory intake of toxic gases. (car emissions have been improved by car manufacturers since day 1, pero ito mga ito never!)

3. travel time. ito ang pinaka hindi nahahalata but seals our fate na talaga. lahat naman tayo refreshed after every sleep, during the morning. but in some twist of fate, the daily commute to work affects or reduces our productivity. either pagod na, stressed out na or mataas na anger level. sayang yun sleep. and that's just about 1-2 hours after waking up pa lang.

kung ito ba naman mga spent premiums & wasted time ma-put to good use. like for example an insurance company with 5-10% rate of accidents lang, papautangin ang cash-strapeed govt natin with the extra premiums they earned. or health companies with healthy subscribers mag-participate sa mga global health research by investing on it and also becoming a part of it. or even the simple Juan De La Cruz who closes deals or does his work with ease by having a well-conditioned body from the start.

madami ma-achieve ang society natin. and we always compared ourselves with Japan, Singapore, Hongkong. start from the basic, what makes their workers more motivated and more competitive than us. why is it that these countries always have extra money to spare even though halos pareho lang naman natin sila ka-rich in natural/people resources.


govt should never implement pro-poor policies if it wants to become progressive.
it doesnt mix. it will cancel each other. and that's how we are now.

oil has now become an expensive commodity and some highly-developed govts. around the world are ready for the challenge bec. they had been busy rooting out the inefficiencies and problem areas 4-5 decades ago.

[Alpha_One]

govt should never implement pro-poor policies if it wants to become progressive.
it doesnt mix. it will cancel each other. and that's how we are now.

oil has now become an expensive commodity and some highly-developed govts. around the world are ready for the challenge bec. they had been busy rooting out the inefficiencies and problem areas 4-5 decades ago.

Those are hardly pro-poor policies. They're anti people policies disguised as pro-poor.

If there's one thing I've learned from Solita Monsod's Economic class in UP, it's this: Whenever someone tells you "It's for the benefit of the Filipino", ask "*which* Filipino?"

If it's for the benefit of some should-have-been-dead-a-hundred-gazillion-years-ago industry with about twenty employees, with the rest of the people unaffected at best, don't bother. But if a thousand people are going to be negatively affected for the benefit of ten thousand, why not?

I mean if your doctor tells you an upcoming operation has a 10% risk of failure, there's always the 90% chance of success right?

[chris_d]

Consider also that most of the gasoline we would get is imported, obviously it cant be sold lower than what it was bought for. So even if we(the Philippines) were poor, if the gasoline came from somewhere else you would have no choice but to pay the premium.

Either way the gasoline prices here are still cheaper than most other countries. Be thankful for that.

[cardo]

In europe, I think petrol there is 3x the price we have. And the price of petrol and diesel in europe is the same I think last I heard - well, atleast thats what my brit-ish neighbor says

[oldblue]

Good point. Tax on gasoline / diesel will at least pressure people into using their vehicles more efficiently and changing their habits / lifestyle. But it is a long OVERDUE move by the government... the artificial "low" gasoline price before (due to subsidies / low tariffs) just contributed to our income deficit (and in turn forced us to borrow money).

sir *mazdamazda no matter how we want conserve gasoline here, talaga hindi maiiwasan coz of the monstrous traffic here. before tamad ako pumunta makati from ortigas kahit na may potential ka-deal ako coz of the traffic. ngaun pati going to greenhills coming from Ortigas iniiwasan ko na maghatid coz it'll take me almost an hour back & forth.

makikita naman sa mileage natin ng tsikot natin, ngaun nasa 60000km+ pa lang yun 5 year old car ko pero I have spent almost an average P2k-P4k per month on fuel expenses and grabe na ang depreciation ng tsikot ko.

now compare this Australia na a 3yr old car has an average of 100000km - 150000km mileage pero halos bago pa din coz very efficient ang road systems nila dun.

It's business. limited naman ang movement natin ngaun siguro average lang ng 20km-30km radius per day bawat pinoy car owner, pero from the looks of it, we have doubled our fuel expenses in just a year.