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By JANESS ANN J. ELLAO
Days after Ondoy struck, the government declared that it would no longer allow these poor Filipinos to return to their shattered homes.
By CARLOS H. CONDE
A disaster-prone country like the Philippines should by now be a nation of experts on calamities and how to deal with them. But, as Ondoy has shown, Filipinos are almost always caught unawares. And often, the high cost of these calamities are caused not so much by lack of knowledge or resources as by poor governance.
“Maybe they are lazy. Tell them they are lazy. They should pay their loans. I will demand their payment or else I will drive them away, no matter who they are,” Vice President Noli de Castro replied when asked why poor Filipinos cannot pay their rent on time.
Malacañang officials claimed they merely had “a simple dinner” in Le Cirque, but Nanay Evelyn Monicario cannot imagine what a lavish dinner for Arroyo and her cohorts would be, considering that she herself considers sardines a lavish meal these days.
Not Quite Le Cirque. President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and her party spent nearly one million pesos on dinner during their recent visit to New York, ordering such items as caviar and expensive wine. In the meantime, poor Filipinos -- like this little girl having lunch, or what passes for it, in Isla Puting Bato, a slum area in Manila -- have to make do with what they have, which is often not enough. (By Ayi Muallam)
“Our transport strike is a success.” Thus said the Task Force July 13, a transport group coalition, at the conclusion of the day-long strike it led in selected Metro Manila routes and regions outside the capital on Monday. Through the strike, they said, they were able to register their protest against the overpricing of petroleum products by the oil companies, particularly the so-called Big Three, and their connivance with the Arroyo regime. View the slideshow
Transport Strike a Success, Say Groups
Since the Arroyo regime expanded the value-added tax on oil and since the implementation of the oil-deregulation law, most jeepney drivers have to work long hours, often up to 14 hours a day. If they don’t, whatever money they earn for the day will only further enrich the oil companies -- and they go home penniless. Think about this the next time you are tempted to curse jeepney drivers for being uncouth, discourteous and undisciplined, as the government is wont to depict them.
Public-transport drivers and operators in several urban areas across the country – including, for the first time, Makati City – denounce the measly oil-price rollbacks by the Big Three oil companies, as well as their “manipulation” of the prices of oil and gas products, such as LPG, to the detriment of unorganized and ordinary consumers.
Welcome to "On the Fringes," the group blog of the staff of Bulatlat.com.
Here, the staff of one of Philippines's most credible alternative online publications will blog about people's issues that are rarely tackled in the mainstream press. This blog will complement Bulatlat's reporting, featuring posts and stories that cannot be found in the main site.
We hope this blog would encourage dialogue between the staff and our readers.
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Benjie Oliveros
Managing editor
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