Jose Almendras is as stupid as a stupid does

We're not Austria nor do we enjoy the luxury of having Italy's famed structures, but in terms of power rates, we are just a fraction lower than them. We have the highest power rates in Asia and now we are fifth biggest in the world. And government is doing absolutely nothing to help foreign and local investors cope with these very high electricity rates.


What Jose Almendras is doing as Energy secretary remains a mystery. Chambers of Commerce as well as the TUCP wrote him a letter asking him for assistance in lowering these power rates. And the response? "It's nothing new" says Almendras.


What an idiot and a stupid man! Your job is not just to monitor the industry but to create policies that will ease the burden of industrial, residential and commercial users of electricity and here you are doing absolutely nothing. 


Even this president is doing nothing to solve this problem. How will we attract additional foreign investors when our electricity rates are as high as 1st world countries? 


We must regulate this industry and it is within the power of government to file charges against those who manipulate the prices of electricity in the spot market. PSALM should be abolished. Napocor officials should be replaced with others who have the welfare of the public in mind. 


It seems that this government is under a state of suspended animation or what we locally call "katamaran syndrome". We are not seeing government in our lives. We are not even feeling any intervention to at least, ease our burdens. What, then, is the purpose of this government? 


Abolish government, some sectors would say. If this government will not act to save or even just protect the rights and interests of the people, what is its relevance in our lives? Nothing!

Social disruptions

Mrs. Arroyo just rejected the proposal of the Trade Union Congress of the Philippines (TUCP) for the State to extend assistance to more than 40,000 workers displaced by the global financial crisis. The TUCP said that government just needs 2 billion pesos for this to work. However, at the same time as TUCP, one of Arroyo's allies in the business sector, Donald Dee, proposed that why not just allot the money as loan to small and medium sized companies. That way, companies will manage to stay afloat and weather the financial storm.

All are good suggestions. Yet, what Arroyo probably did not take into account is the potentialities of this growing unemployed mass of people turning into a noisy mob.

We all know how hard it is right now to survive this raging scourge. A thousand (in this case, 40,000) additional unemployed people means thousands more families are going hungry or even homeless due to this. They need immediate assistance to survive.

These people are what the TUCP are most concerned about since the unemployment numbers will definitely rise as the economy goes on the second quarter. The lackluster economic performance this first quarter shows with a dismal drop in exports, as reported by government.

As people lose their jobs, this increases the possibility of social disruptions breaking out left and right. The United Nations already warned us about this. If the Arroyo administration dismisses this scenario as a trifle, we may yet find ourselves in further dilemma prior to 2010.