THE PHILIPPINE Statistics Authority (PSA) has disclosed that the average inflation rate in the Philippines for the first quarter of 2018 was 4.3 percent – the highest quarterly average since 2014. In the same period in the previous year 2017, inflation was officially recorded at 3.2 percent.
The Bangko Sentral ng PIilipinas expects inflation to continue rising until the third quarter of 2018, partly due to Republic Act No. 10963 or the Tax Reform for Acceleration and Inclusion (TRAIN) law, implemented last January 1, that raised excise taxes on fuel, motor vehicles, and sweetened beverages.
Survival is the name of the game. When prices go up but one’s income stays the same, it actually sheds off some of its buying power.
Against our will, due to inflationary pressure, we have no choice but give up one or two trappings of prosperity to survive. In my case, I stopped my subscription to a cable-TV network that had raised subscription rates. The “loss” gained me more time to watch free programs on regular TV.
I had my landline disconnected in favor of three pre-paid cellular phones that cost me just a little more than P500 a month for pre-paid “unli calls” and “unli text.” Water and electricity are now the only utilities for which I am billed monthly.
What the typical businessman – a restaurateur, for instance — fails to see is that whenever he jacks up prices of goods to increase his profit, he naturally decreases the number of his customers. Of course, the average Juan dela Cruz may still eat batchoy in his place but in a much lesser quantity and frequency.
In other words, the increase in the cost of a product decreases the value of the same amount of money. For instance, if the pair of shoes you bought for P3,000 last year now costs P3,500, you now have to raise an extra P500 to replace it with the same kind.
With each school opening, most schools implement tuition-fee hikes on the pretext of upgrading equipment and services. This practice may disable the poor parents from sending their children to college.
To compensate for that sort of misfortune, Juan de la Cruz attempts to “sacrifice.” By way of illustration, remember that provinciano who came to the city and took a taxi cab for the first time? The moment he was comfortably seated, the meter clicked P40. Shocked, with instinct as his guide, he stood up awkwardly and heaved a sigh when the next flick of the meter displayed only P3.50.
That, of course, is a joke with serious implication: The poor have to suffer to make both ends meet.
But of course, there is always a bright side to this seemingly gloomy struggle for survival. In my case, I have learned to eat the “lowly” vegetables that I used to detest if only to avoid expensive meat that has “rewarded” me with atherosclerosis. Fortunately, it is the right step to healthier life and graceful aging.
Meanwhile, the government always churns excuses for its failure to check inflation. Nowhere is this more evident than in its hands-off-attitude vis-à-vis oil price hikes. It is unwilling to prosecute the oil cartel, using the oil deregulation law as alibi.
Why would I not scratch my head? When Congress passed the “Downstream Oil Industry Deregulation Act of 1998,” we were fooled into believing that its objective was to “foster a truly competitive market which can better achieve the social policy objectives of fair prices and adequate, continuous supply of petroleum products.” (hvego31@gmail.com/PN)
