Entrepreneurial Farmer

Ambrosio R. Villorente

Are Oil Firms Scrooges?

To our readers, and readers particularly of the Entrepreneurial Farmer, our warm and sincere wishes for a very happy and Merry Christmas. We pray for your continued capability to read and love for reading. We pray for your good health and happiness.

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Sen. Mar Roxas has branded oil companies as “scrooges” after they refused to cut their prevailing pump prices and their refusal to reveal their computations to the public how these oil companies arrived at their pump price.

Roxas calculated the price of Mean of Platts Singapore (MOPS) oil prices and added costs like foreign exchange rate, transport cost, the three (3) percent tariff and 12 percent VAT, he found that prices have gone down 51.1 percent for diesel and 59.1 percent for unleaded gasoline since July when oil price was at its peak. “The present price of P35.94 per liter diesel and P35.96 per liter unleaded gasoline are much too high.

“The oil firms are over charging the public by about P10 per liter”, stressed Roxas. “If diesel and unleaded gasoline dropped as much as the MOPS prices since July, they should have cost P27.38 per liter and P24.73 per liter respectively for December 2008,” Roxas pointed out. However, the prices of diesel and unleaded gasoline showed decreases of 35.8 percent and 40.5 percent only respectively.

“Scrooge”, Sen. Roxas branded the oil companies as such is a character in Dickens’ book which means “hard miserly misanthrope”. Again, misanthrope refers to person who hates or distrusts people that is why you don’t open your books?

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At about 7:00 o’clock on Sunday, Dec. 14, fire broke out in Pastrana Street, Poblacion, Kalibo. Kalibo Fire Station in Poblacion, Kalibo was immediately informed of the incident. However, it was not able to respond to prevent the fire from spreading.

But, according to information, Kalibo fire fighters reached the scene of the fire after about 40 minutes. The fire at Pastrana Street is just about three blocks away from the Kalibo Fire Station located in the Kalibo Municipal Bldg., Veterans Avenue. They could easily reach the fire scene if not for the fire truck which clutch was defective. It could not be shifted to first gear but reverse. What a double tragedies!

Fire accident does not happen everyday which is the main and only reason of firemen for being. What do they do? No matter how old the equipments are, but properly maintained in good operating condition, it will always serve the purpose. Firemen must have periodic fire prevention and control drills. There is no reason not to detect the problem of their equipments if test run is done everyday.

Thanks to the firemen from Numancia, New Washington, Ibajay and Balete for coming over to Kalibo to help control the fire.

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In Baghdad, Iraq, President George W. Bush of the United States of America was thrown two pieces of shoes while conducting a press conference last week. He was not hit as he got out of the direction of the shoes thrown. Pres. Bush just looked at the culprit and didn’t say anything as viewed in the TV. But the newsman who threw shoes was arrested. What a humiliation not only to Pres. Bush but to the American people!

In the Philippines, Thai Ambassador demanded apologies from Sen. Richard Gordon and Malacañang spokesman Anthony Golez. According to the Thai Ambassador, it was a great insult when Golez said “what is happening in Thailand couldn’t happen in the Philippines because Filipinos are different from the Thais”. Golez said, he does not and will not apologize, as there is no offense committed.

According to Sen. Gordon, he does not need to apologize of what he said about the take over of the International Airport in Bangkok, Thailand by the ralliest who demanded the resignation of their prime minister. /MP