Supply and Demand

The law of supply and demand, one of the basic laws in business, can be cruel as it can be kind. Cruel when it justifies prices to go up, and kind when it does so the other way. And in recent months, the price of oil just had to follow this basic rule. We have seen and felt the effects of oil at $147/barrel. We felt the weight of P60/ liter gasoline and diesel. And now, we're looking at the possibility of P30 or less per liter, if oil continues its downward trend.

In a way, we can thank the US financial meltdown for the current prices of gasoline and diesel that everyone enjoys. Manufacturers had to downscale production, and Americans had to curb their lavish lifestyles, especially in terms of traveling. And so oil had nowhere to go but down. If nobody seems to want to spend, there was no need for a lot of oil. Supply and demand.

But there is one demand that many Filipinos express, one where there is practically no supply at all. The demand for justice. Numerous anomalies, irregularities, disappearances, killings of journalists, and clear-cut cases of graft and corruption dismissed by those tasked to prosecute them --- all these serve to further the demand for justice in this country.

And just like those who control the oil pipelines, those who control justice have denied this to the people. Just like when more of oil was being demanded by the world and those who control it decreased their output, those who control justice totally deny it from the people.

We may never see the key figures in the current crop of anomalies to ever see a day behind bars. Jocjoc Bolante, Gen. Eliseo de la Paz, Nani Perez, Benjamin Abalos, etc. They are all party to those who control justice. And again, just like oil when it is most needed and supply is cut, justice too can be very expensive. Those who want a guaranteed ruling in their favor. Those who can buy it, looking for those who are willing to sell it. The trade continues as it had all these decades.While we are all preoccupied with trying to earn a living we put up with the largely perceived conclusion of abuse by the big three oil companies who publicly declare profits by the billions yet offer gas price reductions too slow and far between.We believe we have no choice.While we are all preoccupied with one headline grabber after another, in the papers and on tv and radio, we put up with the travesty of justice that committed by this administration laughing at us in our faces and we still don't see it.Or maybe we also think we have no choice.

Oil and justice. Supply and demand. Frustration and revolution?