3 gov't branches vs. The Big Three - Gotcha

Majority of urbanites surveyed don't care about Sec. Fred Lim and Gen. Ping Lacson's alleged human rights violations, so long as they run after criminals. Human rights advocacy has acquired a bad name. Too many times have cries of human rights violation been raised by crime suspects who got hurt while resisting arrest, or by squatters who defied court-ordered demolitions. People just want the law enforced for a change, even if through Marine deployment in malls.

Government's three branches -- Malacañang, Congress, Supreme Court -- copped out as fuel prices rose for eight straight months in 1999. Despite proof of overpricing by The Big 3 -- Petron, Shell, Caltex -- Joseph Estrada kept saying he couldn't do anything because OPEC was to blame. Passing bills to change street names instead of amending defects in the Oil Deregulation Law, Congress wished for more time to make it work. For all its powers, the Supreme Court ruled that the oil industry is beyond its jurisdiction, so it cannot declare unconstitutional the law's section that allows price cartels.

Only Cong. Tet Garcia kept the faith, insisting that government's job is to protect the people from The Big 3's oligopoly.

His was a lonely fight. His memos for Estrada as a LAMP member kept landing in trash bins of presidential advisers. His own partymates in Congress seemed jealous of his popular crusade. The Supreme Court even cited him for contempt when he took out newspaper ads on his privilege speech on cartel pricing.

Persistence paid off. Looking for ways to open the industry to more players, Garcia stumbled upon the idea of setting up an oil exchange where fuel can be traded at lowest bids. When he filed a Congress bill for the purpose last Nov. 3, he immediately drew bipartisan support. Last Saturday, he personally explained the oil-ex to Estrada, who readily endorsed it but wondered why he came only now. Garcia didn't ask back why Palace aides hadn't handed him a copy of the bill which he had sent weeks ago for Malacañang certification as urgent. He just apologized for not thinking up the idea before the first fuel price increase in April 1999.

Garcia thought of the oil-ex while studying the "California model" for a separate bill that would modernize the power industry and privatize Napocor. Before California set up a power exchange in 1996, three big utility firms monopolized the state's $23-billion electricity business. California broke up the cartel by forcing the three firms to sell most of their generating plants to many smaller utility companies. It then set up the power exchange that awards California's hourly electricity demand to the lowest bidder among the many generating plants in and out of state.

If this can be done with electricity that can't be seen, stored or imported, all the more can it be done with gasoline, diesel, kerosene, LPG and av-gas.

Under Garcia's bill, The Big 3 will have to submit bids to the oil-ex just like everybody else. An overseeing agency will then allow the entry or sale of the lowest bidders' stocks. That will stop overpricing fuel from The Big 3's refineries and transfer-pricing supplies from their mother firms.

Meanwhile, Garcia is asking the Supreme Court to reverse its earlier hands-off ruling on the oil industry oligopoly. He wants total victory: government's three branches crushing The Big 3.

INTERACTION. Manny Leno, Lagro, QC: "The reason for Erap's plunging poll rating is his radio-TV show, Jeep ni Erap. In the show, he speaks off the cuff, unscripted, and even butts in while Cabinet secretaries are brilliantly explaining policies. In his effort to be humorous, he belts out one-liners that get him into trouble. They are now rotating the emcees, but the more brilliant the emcee, the more Erap's shallowness shows. He shouldn't stop smoking; having a cigarette in his mouth might help him cut down talking."

You're not from the tobacco lobby, are you, Manny?

Edwin Laranang, Antioch, CA: "Re your column `He'll never learn' (Gotcha, 3 Jan. 2000), a person performs according to his training and beliefs. Beyond that, he needs advice from others who understand the situation at hand. Running the country is too big a task for Erap alone. If only he has honest men around him, and not opportunists...."

He'll never learn, Edwin.

Ernie Chaves, Seattle, WA: "Even though I've been living here for a long time, my heart still belongs to my beloved Philippines. Thousands of us Pinoys here are watching developments in the homeland, worried about the economy: Daming sentro, pumapapel; walang guwardya, bahala na; puro forward, tumitira for pogi-points. Worse, hilo ang coach (Erap)."

I see your heart still belongs to Pinoy basketball, Ernie.

Victor Sumagaysay, marin.org: "The President believes that even if his popularity rating declines, people still trust him. He will still pursue Cha-cha. Will one true adviser out of 73 tell him that low rating is due to distrust?"

Seems, Victor, someone advised him to drop 62 of the 73.

Joey Legarda, Makati: "It's difficult to attract good men into a lousy administration. It has nothing to do with compensation, contrary to what Erap says, but with his leadership."

Gosh, Joey, did somebody declare Jan. 12 Erap-Bashing Day?

Sr. Immaculata Eucharistia's spiritual healing schedule: Jan. 18, Santuario de San Antonio, Forbes Park, Makati; Jan. 25, San Buenaventura Parish; Feb. 1, St. Therese Chapel, Los Baños, Laguna; Feb. 8, Immaculate Conception Parish, Guagua, Pampanga; Feb. 15, Ateneo College Chapel; Feb. 21, Pagcor Chapel, Roxas Blvd., Manila; Feb. 29, Sta. Rosa de Lima Chapel, Pasig.

YOUR BODY. American and Northern European men with high blood pressure are three times more likely to die of heart attack than men with the same blood pressure from Japan or the Mediterranean coast of Europe, researchers report in the New England Journal of Medicine. Though genetics can explain some of the difference, diet also plays a major role. More on this in cnn.com/health.

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