Editorial

Shortage of common sense

WE can draw several conclusions from Secretary Angelo Reyes? insistence that the prevailing shortage of liquefied petroleum gas is merely a distribution problem. Unfortunately for the energy secretary, none of them is terribly flattering.

First, it suggests that the energy secretary is far removed from reality?which is that consumers are having a difficult time buying their cooking gas. The facts, Mr. Secretary: bakers are now considering raising the price of bread because of the shortage of cooking gas. Even Pilipinas Shell acknowledges a tightness of supply and has raised its prices accordingly.

Second, it shows once again how the Energy Department is unwilling or unable to protect the interests of consumers. We have seen this before in the way local pump prices rise swiftly when crude prices climb, but do not fall as rapidly when world prices plummet.

Third, the refusal to acknowledge the supply shortage betrays a complete lack of understanding about what is important to the consumer. The household that cannot buy a cylinder of cooking gas does not care how the energy secretary parses words; it cares about restoring the regular supply of a key commodity. The Energy Department blames hoarders, and over the weekend confiscated more than 2,000 LPG cylinders allegedly being hoarded by a Chinese trader in Manila. The energy secretary said the seizure proves the government theory that the shortage is being caused by hoarding, but our question is this: will it restore balance to the market? Anything short of that is unacceptable, no matter how much the government rails against hoarders.

The first step to solving any problem is to acknowledge it exists. Given the energy secretary?s recent denials of a shortage, it may be awhile before the supply of cooking gas goes back to normal. Now that?s what we call a shortage of common sense.