What’s next?

Imet Rep. Aniceto “John” Bertiz on two occasions in Danao City. He was introduced to me by a friend and one of the directors of Club Filipino de Cebu. I learned that he was representing the party-list group ACT-OFW. His wife is from Carmen, Cebu, the reason why he comes to Cebu once in a while.

Someone said that if you want to know the character of a person, play golf with him. I played golf with Bertiz together with Rex Bontia. His game was as good as that of Rex, but he did not show his temperament in his missed shots unlike some friends I know of.

This is not in defense of Bertiz. But on the occasions I met him, he didn’t show signs of arrogance. That’s why I was surprised to learn about that incident at the airport where he supposedly showed an uncalled-for behavior. He apologized but his justification for his act became viral in social media.

Realizing perhaps that what he did ruined his image, Bertiz filed a resolution in Congress calling for an investigation into the incident. In short, he asked his peers to scrutinize him in Congress. Will this be good for him?

His other purpose in calling for the congressional inquiry, which is in aid of legislation, is to look into the supposed unauthorized release of the video footage on the incident to social media by an airport employee or its employees. Bertiz complained that video footage was released to social media even before an inquiry into the incident could be conducted.

Will a law be passed prohibiting government offices or agencies from releasing video footage to social media? That is possible considering that some of the scandals caught on camera involve public officials. But in this IT age, netizens are certain to oppose any legislation of this nature.

If ever a law would be crafted out of this congressional investigation that would prohibit the release of video footage to the public or social media even before a probe could be conducted, it should exclude those that involve the commission of crimes since in this instance the immediate identification of culprits is primordial.

After the latest round of increase in the price of fuel, what’s next? Prices of commodities will also rise. Worse, some parts of the country have been hit by calamities. There’s the landslide in Sindulan, Tina-an, City of Naga that left 77 people dead with some still missing. The survivors have no more homes to return to.

The usual justification for the price hike is that the market price of crude oil per barrel abroad has increased. What is suspect is the enormous excise tax that the government imposed on the sale of fuel.

I suppose that the economic think tanks of President Duterte are doing their best to lessen the impact of the fuel price hike to consumers and the populace suffering from the shortage of the supply of cheap rice.

The president must have realized now that with the myriad of problems in the economic sphere, running after the drug lords and the addicts is not his only responsibility.

This time, the president should be hands-on in managing the country’s economy even if he already admitted his lack of knowledge on these matters.