THE RISE IS OUR FALL

CHERRYL O. GUANLAO

Things going up does not always pertain to good— it can be negative, too. The inflation rate of the Philippines had been rising up rather drastically nowadays, making living conditions difficult for many. Prices had been continuously rising, and that is not a good thing. Majority of the Filipino population can not afford the renewed prices of food, house essentials, school essentials, and most living essentials. Due to the reasoning that most of the people in the lower sections have either low paying/minimum wage jobs, or no jobs at all. Why is it that while the economy's falling, the prices keep rising? As of March 2024, the inflation rate of the Philippines had risen to 3.4%. On the basis of these inflation forecasts, average consumer price inflation in 2024 should only be 3.0%. Food and non-alcoholic beverages inflation slightly rose to 4.6% in February from 3.5% in the previous month mainly due to rice (2.1 ppts contribution) as well as flour, bread, and other bakery products (0.2 ppt). Meanwhile, prices of vegetables (-0.3 ppt) decelerated in February. Factors such as El Niño have also impacted us in a harder way than we thought. Since our country's front is agriculture, the food prices had taken a toll because of the dry season. The group of people that had been affected by the inflation the most are the farmers themselves. Not much profit really comes to the farmers' hands. Most of the time, it is onlt enough for daily needs. “As long as there is life, there is potential; and as long as there is potential, there is success.”— The solution for the drastic rise of the inflation rates is not yet figured out, but, even so, we should be ascending all together, as one, not soaring while many plunge at the same time.

-oOoTHE AUTHOR IS TEACHER II ATBECURAN HIGH SCHOOL JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL