Poor get poorer

AND the hardship is getting painful every time the president and his economic man agers and technocrats say this and that. Over the weekend, I visited a supermarket and two common wet markets in Bacolod and I was shocked to know that galunggong is P250 per kilogram (kg), other fish increases by P25 to P40kg, common vegetables by P15 to P20, garlic by P30, red onions by P25, and good rice P64 per kilo,

Cooking fuel increased by P4.00 per kg. Public transportation fare is now P9.00. Taxis increased their flag down by P4.50.

Gas and diesel fuels continue to soar, and it is likely it could register to as high as P65 per liter in the next few weeks.

Several small and medium businessmen and social entrepreneurs have expressed difficulties to cope with fast changes in market prices, including those with imports and exports.

They say they incur weekly losses in hundreds of thousands, and the current trend continues they might be forced to fold up.

Why are prices not controlled, regulated when we supposed to have a national price control council?

Why is this happening amid the administration's bragging of billions of investments, massive infrastructures construction, agriculture modernization, DTI and Tesda's job generation, and so on?

Well don't wait for the answers of government economic experts and communication strategists, they will tell you lies and lies. The answers are on the streets.

The government is losing control of our economy; keeps a blind eye and deaf ear to big capitalists killing our people, like modern day vampires.

The late nationalist economist Alejandro Lichauco said once that the government has abandoned its full responsibility to control everything.

Its IMF-World Bank dictated liberalization and deregulation policy has given private corporations to run our economy and state utilities with extreme greed and contempt against the poor.

The government has de-empowered itself and just watch callously and deafly the private capitalists squeezing every blood and sweat of our workers, farmers, fisher folks, indigenous peoples, low paid professionals, homeless, OFWs.

On the streets and highways, no concerned government agencies would ever care to check, control, and penalize violators among wet markets and mall operators, transport moguls, big restos and eateries, private trucking services hauling farm products...because many of their officials get grease money from the ravenous capitalists.

If at all they do sometimes, it is for stupid image projection and nothing more.

Progressive economists and institutions led by Ibon research think tank have argued after the first Sona of the president that the administration's economic fundamentals have not departed from its predecessor's staunch adherence to neoliberal globalization, as such it is bound to suffer its worst crisis ever.

And another factor that fuels the exacerbation of this is the worsening corruption from Malacañang down to field offices.

So what can we expect from a corrupt government which has limited itself to tax collections, delivery of social services, giving of donations and favors, making self-serving legislation, looting public coffers?

The poor get poorer, indeed.

But history has repeatedly told us that the poor have their unique way of solving their problems caused by the ruling state in their own good time.

Certainly, theirs will tremble the hearts of the mighty.