BY:DONALD SEVILLA
DOES BUSINESS HAVE A CONSCIENCE?
The problem with the internet,social media and even the mainstream news, is that, not everything we read and hear is true.
In this day and age when information is readily available at the click of a mouse, misinformation and disinformation abound to muddle an issue and shape public opinion.
Trolling is lucrative business that propaganda wars are fought fiercely in cyberspace as much as in the battlefield.
The Middle East conflict is a classic example of how modern and future wars will be fought. Keyboard warriors are equally busy dishing out false narratives to mislead us and reinforce our fears , putting pressure on global trade and commerce.
Yet behind the chaos of war there are those who thrive lucratively in the shadows earning substantially at our expense.
While the rest of the world watches in anxiety and fear, these “Lords of War” in their airconditioned comfort, help shape policy and decisions, that gravely affect everyone.
Behind every crisis lies an opportunity that big business thrives on. This is the stark reality of how business and geopolitics are so intertwined in our modern world.
Come to think of it only 20℅ of the world’s oil supply comes from the Gulf States and Iran that transit the narrow Strait of Hormuz. But how about the rest of the 80℅?
Why should the 20℅ hold hostage the majority 80℅ and dictate world oil prices? Why does 20℅ of raw material translate into a substantial 50-100 ℅ increase in price for the final product?
Media is not helping us as it feeds our fears and sends the market to panic. But we are held hostage by our insecurities and anxieties that oftentimes, we lose sight of the bigger picture.
In business as a rule of thumb, when you have problems with your regular supplier/ source don’t you look for another and develop it to make up for the shortfall? You can even go as far as to abandon old suppliers and move on.
But in the case of oil, the billions invested in the Middle East can’t just simply be laid to waste.What has made nomadic peoples rich beyond imagination could just as easiy unmake them if the world turns it’s back and looks elsewhere.
So herein lies the great anomaly when business and self-interests become primordial to that of the greater good.These are the realities in the global stage and applying this point of view to our local setting, we can ask ourselves why do we have the highest percentage of fuel increase compared to our Asian neighbors and perhaps the world, assuming we are getting crude from the same source?
But how much of our oil are we really getting from the Middle East if we are? Problem is, our oil industry and the govt.agencies, tasked to oversee them lack transparency.
The public is blind as to how the system and pricing work, except in the knowledge that everything is deregulated and we are made to feel “helpless”.
Foreign news reported sarcastically that we are the first country to declare a state of energy emergency. What does this imply?
Is our govt. helpless vis a vis big business? That our country has the highest percentage spike in fuel pump prices leads us to more questions. Is big business leading us, dictating our lives?
Or are we Filipinos more greedy or just simply ” smarter businessmen ” than others? We need not think twice. The flood control mess is staring us in the eye!
#repealtheoilderegulationlaw