blame my gun

(O huwag mo kalabitin ang aking gatilyo)

"The lesson today is how to die..."
Which Strange Little Girl would you be?
You have a strong sense of justice, and believe that ultimately people should pay for their crimes.

Getting the creeps from the oil (price) crisis

Malacañang has really made a show of leading a so-called energy conservation program that includes deploying sinister "enercops" to make sure that government employees don't overdose on airconditioning, dimming the Palace's huge chandelier lights, ambitiously mapping out bike lanes along the Metro's suffocating highways, etcetera. I find it all so damn funny.

Nothing mirthful about the oil crisis, of course. With the world price of oil shooting to $70 per barrel and local oil companies jacking up their own prices in resonant chorus, everyone's in a bad mood. Particularly those who drive public vehicles for a living that's hardly decent nowadays, and those who ride vehicles, public or not, in order to get to their sources of living (as I said, everyone).

But amidst all the mumbling and grumbling, most people still think, "ganyan talaga, wala tayong magagawa." Or at least they have been trained to think, with the government washing its hands clean of something that is "beyond their control." Precisely. It IS beyond their control because they have deregulated the industry and made The Big Three (Caltex, Petron, Shell) a three-headed monster that hoards cavernous profits, terrorizes the whole market with sychronized clawing at the people's pockets, and incinerates competitors with a single breath. Sheesh. How long have the militants' call to scrap the Oil Deregulation Law fallen on deaf ears, huh? Now even Sen. Ja-ja-ja-jamby Madrigal has filed a bill to scrap the said law in the Senate, but fat chance that's gonna get some attention.

How about this getting your attention: gas prices have gone up 254% and diesel prices have gone up 334% since the Oil Deregulation Law was passed in 1996.

Moving on from the usual suspects. Didn't it ever occur to the Arroyo government that withdrawing support from US President George Bush's "war on terror" would do more to abate the oil crisis than acquiring "emergency powers"? Since the US led the war of aggression on Iraq, senseless for the slaughter of a sovereign people but a brilliant move to get 526 years worth of oil reserves flowing their way, speculators have used political instability in the Middle East to artificially bring up oil prices to its current level.

Damn Bush and US imperialism. That's really what commuters should say rather than "damn drivers who don't give the right change," or what drivers should say rather than "damn commuters who don't give the right fare."

It is estimated that $15 per barrel have been added to global prices due to speculation. And with the US planning to attack Iran, the world's 2nd largest oil reserve, again for trumped-up charges of possessing weapons of mass destruction, the ascent of oil prices may have just begun. War makes the market nervous, and we are stress balls for it to squeeze.

So is there an oil crisis, really? Not even remotely in the science fiction-doomsday sense of mankind having spent all of the earth's resources and forced to do funny things for a liter of gasoline. Meaning, there is no crisis in the oil supply. AT ALL.

Oil supply, at 84.6 mbd (million barrels per day), still exceeds oil demand, which is at 81.9 mbd. There is 7 TO 8 BILLION BARRELS OF OIL tied up worldwide at any given time. We have enough for a good 42 years. So how come oil is priced like a friggin bottle of perfume? (Okay, so that's an exagerration, maybe in the future still).

Methinks three words: MIGHTY OIL CARTEL. Yeah, the usual suspects. In fact, they are so usual that nobody suspects that a crime has even been committed. But really, transnational oil companies like Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, and Chevron Texaco control oil at the stages of its exploration, refining, and distribution. Sixty seven percent of the oil market are transactions solely between these TNCs.

Here's an eye-popping estimate by the independent think-tank Ibon Foundation. At the spot market price of $55.40/ barrel, WINDFALL PROFITS OF OIL COMPANIES AMOUNT TO AS MUCH AS $35-37 PER BARREL!!! (They based this computation on the exploration costs, production costs, and OPEC royalties of one company).

So even before oil imported here in the Philippines, the mother companies of Caltex (Chevron Texaco), Shell (Royal Dutch Shell) and Petron (Saudi Aramco) have already profited so much, it doesn't even matter if these companies sometimes lose profits (as they so often claim), so long as they maintain their hefty market share.

So this has been quite a lengthy piece, and yet there's so much more to say about the oil crisis issue. More invectives to let loose, especially against President Arroyo who betrayed national patrimony by letting foreign oil companies run and even sell OUR oil from the biggest oil reserve this country has in Malampaya. I remember when I was in the Congress beat, the chairman of the House Committee on Energy even threw a big luncheon in honor of Pilipinas Shell to celebrate this highway rape and robbery.

Shudder, shudder.

posted by: ilangq at 17:10 | link | comments (1) |
political chuvachuva

Black or white

I spoke the truth that wounds me

yet you say I bleed too shallow,

you say I bleed too shallow.

As I wrestle with demons down deep

you confuse the light from shadow,

you confuse the light from shadow.

I stare helpless at the vastness of sky

and you shoot the stars with arrows,

you shoot the stars with arrows.

If the ground falls beneath me now

will you wail in joy or sorrow,

will you wail in joy or sorrow?

For surely only black or white

can make it to tomorrow.

posted by: ilangq at 18:48 | link | comments |
malikhaing pagpanggap

Habang bumibili ng buko sa kalsada ng Maynila

Gusto ko

ng maligamgam-matamis

na katas ng buko

na isinalin sa plastik

at sinuksukan ng istraw

na malinaw na recycled

mula sa saanmaang

basurahan sa Kamaynilaan.

 

  

Kaya’t hinanap ko

ang karitong

kapirasong agraryo

sa sari-saring hanapbuhay

ng kalyeng sementado. 

  

Kinse pesos ang iniabot

kay manong magbubuko

upang hanapin at hiwalayin

ang mala-uhog

sa mala-niyog,

gamit ang kanyang sundang.

 

Hataw, tagpas

Hataw, tagpas

Hataw, tagpas

 

Hangga’t sumilip

ang puting laman,

sansaglit leeg na puputulan

yun pala’y pelukang balat

ang huhubarin

saka bubutasan

ang bumbunan.

   

Habang umaagos

ang katas na pinananabikan,

inisip ko

ang mga magsasakang

kinotongan ng resikada,

ekta-ektaryang niyugang

may upa,

binarat na presyo

ng kopra,

buko pie na panay harina.

Isama na rin

ang virgin coconut oil

na pang-mayaman,

ang ‘di-mabentang

coco-diesel ng sasakyan,

at lahat ng kababayang

ginagata ang putla.

   

Sinong walang bitin na lunggati

dito sa pinabansot na bansang agraryo?

 

Buntong-hiningang

iniabot ni manong magbubuko

ang buko juice ko,

sinuksukan ng istraw

na malinaw na recycled

mula sa saanmaang

basurahan sa Kamaynilaan.

posted by: ilangq at 05:42 | link | comments |
malikhaing pagpanggap

Pa-dinner

Nagpunta ako sa isang "pa-dinner" ni Sen. Manny Villar sa Senate beat reporters noong Biyernes sa pag-asang mapipigang iladlad ng senador ang kanyang pinapalingan sa gitna ng munting krisis pampulitika ng bansa at upang maka-lafang ng masarap na pagkain. Hindi ako na-disappoint sa pagkain (kare-kare, sinigang na hipon, pritong tilapia, at adobong pusit, to be precise), pero maingat ang mama. Ayaw mag-comment sa usapin ng Senate presidency, pati na rin sa pagka-"undecided" ng kanyang misis at ng iba pang miyembro ng Nacionalista Party sa impeachment ng Pangulo. Okay fine.

Gayunpaman, refreshing pakinggan ang mga komentong hinding-hindi masasabi sa presscon. Katulad nang nakangising "Basta ba taga-Senado ang Prime Minister," nang tanungin ko tungkol sa Cha-Cha. Hmpt. Yun lang naman pala. Kesyo nauna na sa pila si House Speaker Jose de Venecia at si dating Pangulong Fidel Ramos. May "wala sa interes ng bayan" pa silang nalalaman sa harap ng kamera (na totoo naman, pero what would it take para baguhin nila ang ganitong artipisyal na linya sa cha-cha?)

Lumalabas na isang smart political move ang ginawang "wait-and-see" na pahayag ni Villar at ng NP sa pambansang araw ng balimbingan noong Hulyo 8. Kaya ngayon, kayang-kaya niyang komentuhan ang "biglang pananahimik" ng apat na senador ng Liberal Party mula sa pambabatikos sa Pangulo (in fairness, si Drilon lang naman talaga ang todo-ngawa). "Hindi ba parang ang pangit noon, kung bumaligtad ka na, tapos babalik ka pa?" kanyang pa-inosenteng tanong.

Sa kabilang banda, kayang-kaya ri Villar na amining wala naman talagang nagkakagusto kay GMA sa Senado noon (lalo na sa kanyang staff na binabato pa raw niya), at hanggang ngayo'y sukdulan ng plastik. "My favorite!" sasabihin daw ng Pangulo sa kanya kapag nakita, at pagkatapos maririnig niyang ganoon din ang sasabihin sa iba.

Sa kanyang pogi points sa jueteng hearings sa Senado, mukhang mas malayo ang aabutin nitong si Villar kaysa sa kanyang poging kasamahan na si Sen. Mar Roxas, na walang magawa nang putulan ng LP ang kanyang dilang tahasang pro-Gloria.

Hay naku, ayaw pa kasi pumanig sa tama, hinihintay pa talagang magalit nang husto ang taumbayan saka sasakyan ito at mag-aastang matagal nang kakampi ng bayan. Sabi nga niya tungkol kay GMA nang walang kaabog-abog habang pumapapak ng tilapia espesyal, "Kung magalit ang taumbayan, malas. Kung hindi, eh di suwerte."

Talaga namang napakasarap ang buhay ng mga pulitiko maliban kung minalas. Parang mga kriminal na hapi-hapi hanggang mahuli sa akto. Nakakapangilabot. Ang hirap lumunok.

posted by: ilangq at 13:15 | link | comments (2) |
political chuvachuva

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