Are we forgetting the high oil prices in Cebu?

Yesterday I was watching GMA-TV’s local news of the militant left holding their Andres Bonifacio Day rally along Colon St. complete with the usual placards and red banners flying. They were shouting against the Oil Deregulation Law, which their leader, Winnie Badayos said that their hero Andres Bonifacio fought. Hmmm, I recall reading my history books and Andres Bonifacio didn’t die fighting against Spanish tyranny; rather, he died in the hands of his own fellowmen, when then Gen. Emilio Aquinaldo who perceived Bonifacio as the biggest to his political ambition, had him executed.

This is the problem with those Leftist groups, they can’t even get their history right and their blind followers just simply nod in agreement. Looking at the video footages, you can say that these people have truly gone far. In the past they used ragged posters, cut from sugar or rice sacks for their posters. Now they have huge printed cards and their red banners look like they were bought a few days ago. I can only reckon that these leftists now have money coming from their Party-lists Congressmen. In short, we taxpayers pay for those slogans! Gives you an idea of how we taxpayers are being cooked in our own lard!

The TV reporter interviewed a bunch of jeepney drivers who complained about the Oil Deregulation Law that it should be scrapped. Funny, but the leaders of this militant group did not even care to raise the still raging issue plaguing Cebu today where our gasoline pump prices are still an average of P6 per liter higher than the gas pump prices in either Mindanao or Luzon. For jeepney or taxi drivers, this is a huge cost differential which has nothing to do with the Oil Deregulation Law, yet when Governor Gwen F. Garcia brought this matter in a Cabinet Meeting during the time of then Pres. Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, the militant groups kept silent on this issue.

Today, five months after the Aquino administration has been in place, the militant groups have revived their anti-Oil Deregulation Law advocacy, but they remain blind to today’s reality, that Cebuanos pay the highest oil prices in this country. They go to the streets against the Oil Deregulation Law, but do nothing with the reality of today’s high oil prices.

One quotation holds true to what is happening with our oil prices today in Cebu:”For evil to flourish, it is enough for good men to do nothing!” This is why our oil prices in Cebu are still high. Good men in the Cebu Chamber who supported P.Noy’s election campaign are not demanding from him to have our oil prices at par with Manila and the Leftists groups are still blind to today’s reality of high oil pump prices. So if you’re still complaining about our high gasoline pump prices, you either march into the streets or just shut up!

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At the 888 Forum yesterday, the first part of the discussion was about Violence Against Children. We were given a book entitled “Towards a Child-Friendly Education Environment: A Baseline study on Violence Against Children (CAV) in Public Schools. Apparently there are forms of violence that we do not realize is violence at all, like verbal violence, which more often than not is done not only by irresponsible parents, but by mindless teachers as well. Please don’t tell me that the Department of Education (DepEd) doesn’t know about this?

But how do we really come up with a child-friendly educational environment? I’m a person who looks for root causes. I would like to believe that the bottom line for this advocacy is to come up with more responsible parents; after all, I believe that children become what we parents make of them. Please Google Dorothy Law Nolte’s “Children Learn What They Live” and you’ll see a phrase to remember: “If a child lives with hostility, he learns how to fight…If a child lives with encouragement, he learns to be confident.” Get a copy of this poem and memorize it for your children’s sake.

The other topic that was discussed in the 888 Forum is about the Philippine Tourism Congress, which was created though Rep. Act. No. 9593 purportedly to enhance our tourism potential. But as Mr. Robert “Bobby” Joseph and former Department of Tourism (DoT) Dawnee Roa both pointed out, Sec Alberto Lim did not give any importance to this law, even to the point of refusing to recognize its elected officers. The Tourism Congress elects nine trustees from its members, three each to represent Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, who shall serve for a term of two years.

Sir Bobby Joseph was emphatic saying, “This is the first secretary who snubs the tourism industry”. Let me add my ten centavos’ worth, that we have a Tourism Secretary that lies before the public. Hence, we should clamor for his resignation; after all, P.Noy says that we are “his boss!” or aren’t we?

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