WHEN multinational oil companies say they are losing, what they actually mean is their profits are being diminished! It smacks of the lament of Microsoft?s Bill Gates that he became $1 billion ?poorer? in the wake of the global crises?i.e., his net worth was down, say, from $70 billion to $69 billion ?only.?

It is downright outrageous that while the whole country is reeling from the devastating effects of ?Ondoy? and ?Pepeng,? these profiteers think of nothing but business as usual. While everyone else is being forced to make sacrifices, they are brazening it out come hell or high water. Just look at the egregious ways by which their executive officers are still living it up! Continuing to earn millions of pesos in monthly (yes, monthly) salaries and perks, they don?t give a hoot if the host country wallows in total squalor.

In reaction to these companies? blackmail not to bring in more oil thereby causing a shortage of supply, Sen. Joker Arroyo has correctly opined that it is within the ?police power? of the State to take over these companies in times of national emergencies or to import oil on its own. Why the Arroyo regime is being soft on these companies and is not even inclined to check their oil stocks in Pandacan is hard to understand.

In the face of their defiance of the executive order supposedly ?freezing? the prices of oil products, Malacañang has blinked and is now groveling. For all its bravado about being still on top of things, this regime can only beg these oil companies to moderate their greed? ?Tis a puzzlement!

?STEPHEN L. MONSANTO,
slmonsanto@yahoo.com.ph