NINE point six percent. That’s the inflation rate for the month of May, as announced by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP). It’s the highest since January 1999 when the inflation rate then was 10.5 percent.

Already, we have been feeling the effects of this: the prices of gas, food, and other basic items have gone up steeply. Blame it on supply problems: With lesser rice supply available, its price has increased. With the price of oil running away at more than $130 per barrel, the prices of gasoline and other oil products have likewise hiked up. And as we know from experience, when gas goes up, everything else follows.

Consumers are expected to lower their spending to cope with the high prices of basic commodities. That may mean bad news to businessmen especially those whose products are considered nonessential.
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THE BIG buzz in business circles remains the Meralco crisis. Everyone wants to know what will happen — will the Lopezes keep the power company or will Winston Garcia and the GSIS succeed in heading it? What’s with all the sweetheart deals, system losses, highway robbery charges, power struggle and squabble about proxies? Every day brings with it a new development to this boardroom battle.

Stockbroker Monique Lecaros of SB Equities Inc. says, “On a long-term standpoint, the possibility of the Lopezes losing control of Meralco really is disturbing for shareholders as it raises doubts over whether any group out there would be competent enough to run the company. The public, on the other hand, seems to welcome government’s purported move and claims of ‘protecting public interest.’”

Indeed, from the looks of it, the man on the street just wants electricity charges to be lowered given the skyrocketing prices of everything else, from rice to gasoline. That’s why, given the opportunity, Winston Garcia will be perceived a hero if he gets to fulfill his vow of bringing down electricity charges within two months of assuming the helm of Meralco.

But there’s something about the government making moves to take over private business that makes me uneasy. Winston Garcia said on TV that Manolo Lopez will give up Meralco “whether he likes it or not.” Amando Doronila calls it a “seizure of assets without guns and soldiers.” A chilling thought.