Oh my gas!

Posted by on June 7, 2008 in The Grrrr Department | 9 comments

This link to a PDI article is dated June 10, 2007. It’s a little less than a year ago. I quote:

The latest fuel price hike was the ninth for gasoline for a total of P5 a liter… The price hike brings premium unleaded gasoline prices to between P39.07 and P41.77 a liter.

Today, on the way home, I realized fuel is now selling for as much as P55.47 a liter. The cheapest fuel in my immediate vicinity is Petron’s P54.97/liter. This means that in just 12 months, gasoline prices rose P15.90, an incredible increase of almost 30%!

I know the world is reeling from skyrocketing fuel prices (thanks a lot, China!). For Filipinos who are getting by on the barest minimum, these high gasoline prices hit them hardest where it hurts – their stomachs. It boggles my mind that parents have to scrimp on their children’s food and education just so they can go to work!

Take us for example. We live very near the border of Caloocan and Quezon City. Cathy works along Taft Avenue; I work in Taguig City. Without traffic, I can get to work in a little under an hour; during rush hour, it can take as much as two and a half hours. The trips are approximately 60km, back and forth; we finish a tank of gasoline in approximately one week. At P54.97, filling up our 45-liter gasoline tank will cost approximately PHP2475, or a staggering P9,900 a month in gasoline! That’s a significant chunk of my salary right there, just to get to work. (Luckily, I love my work, so it’s worth the trip, kinda like Dunkin’ Donuts.)

I am so believing God for Nathan to make it to a good Chinese school in Makati, Taguig, Pasay, or Malate, then we can move houses and save money on both gasoline and time. We can’t live like this, we just can’t. Why can’t we stop the rise in gas prices? I don’t know how the corrupt in government can stomach squirreling millions of pesos while the middle and lower classes scramble to just make it by. 

  • http://www.energypoweralternatives.com Josh Maxwell

    Thanks for posting the article, was certainly a great read!

  • admin

    Thanks for enjoying it, Josh. :)

  • anonymous

    Hindi rin natin masisisi ang pamahalaaan, kung ginagawa naman nila ang trabaho nila.

    Tulad ng sabi ng isang US president, I forgot his name, parang ganito yung speech niya.:

    Don’t ask the government to what the government can do for you, the matter is what you can for your country.

  • http://www.gannsdeen.com ganns

    Excuse me, anonymous, but exactly how do we know the government is doing its job? Corruption within the government is rampant and proven, and a significant amount of the national budget that can go to rebuilding our economy is set aside for debt payments that we mathematically cannot hope to remotely overcome.

    Meanwhile, I am doing everything I can for this country. I pay my taxes. I obey traffic laws. As a member of the middle class, I help pump prime the economy by spending within my means and investing in products made here. I choose to stay here and work here and build a life for my family here. That, Sir, is what I am doing for my country.

    The least I can expect are non-flooding roads of decent quality, government services that don’t take forever – read my SSS and LTO entries to get an idea of how upsetting that can get – and affordable gas so I can continue to work to help support this nation.

  • http://www.gannsdeen.com ganns

    Note, too, by the way, how I identify “the corrupt in government.” My father worked for the government for forty years and did not steal a single centavo. My grandfather was a colonel; my cousins are government workers now. I do not chastise the entire government; I speak for the corrupt few who do steal and get away with it. It only takes a few to rob our nation of billions.

  • anonymous

    With all your respect, Ganns, let me requote what I posted earlier.:

    Hindi rin natin masisisi ang pamahalaaan, kung may times, hindi nila agad-agad nagagawa yung trabaho nila.

    Tulad ng sabi ng isang US president, I forgot his name, parang ganito yung speech niya.:

    Don’t ask the government to what the government can do for you, the matter is what you can for your country.

    Peace.

  • admin

    All right. With all due respect, you’re not quoting yourself correctly, and you misquote John F. Kennedy, but as you say, peace.

  • anonymous

    Galit ka ba sa akin?

    :(

    Peace.

  • http://www.gannsdeen.com ganns

    Today, June 14, gasoline prices are now PHP56.97/L.