Ordinary Lagunenses aren’t imagining or hallucinating it: prices of basic goods and commodities did shoot up to record high in the previous months.
Data recently released by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) had confirmed what every consumer had suspected: inflation in Laguna province had zoomed to 8.0 percent last June, the highest recorded this year.
Concerningly, Laguna province was the lone province in the Calabarzon region which had reported a faster increase in the prices of basic goods, while the other four provinces in the region reported slower inflation rates.
It cannot be denied that the recent war in Iran that has resulted in higher prices of petroleum products had also impacted on the prices of basic goods.
But all-time high inflation rates are in the most industrialized and urbanized provinces in Calabarzon begs more than an acceptable explanation.
It demands action.
While the entire country is fixated in the new drama series in the Senate – the impeachment of Vice President Sara Duterte – ordinary Filipinos still feel the pinch, both of the high costs of basic goods and lack of a concerted, strategic action from the government.
We’re not just talking about the national government here – after all, the Marcos administration has proved itself incapable of the task, unable to deliver beyond cash assistance that are tantamount to bribes to appease a populace nearing the breaking point.
Let’s all ask our local officials here – our representatives in Congress, our mayors, our local legislators in the provincial board and the municipal and city councils.
Beyond “ayuda,” what are our LGUs doing in response to the runaway increase in the prices of goods and services?
Let us remember one important lessons history has taught us: economic instability will lead to political instability.
Government inaction in the face of a people facing hardship often leads to its downfall.
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