Arnold Padilla

Stories from Arnold Padilla

Analysis
Monday, August 2nd, 2010

MANILA - In his first State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Benigno Aquino III used the various cases of misuse of public funds by the Arroyo administration as a pretext to promote the so-called Public-Private Partnerships or PPPs. According to Aquino, PPPs will address the lack of resources due to a depleted government budget for the country's many needs.

Thursday, November 19th, 2009

MANILA - The big oil players have put their conflict with Malacañang over Executive Order No. 839 to a higher plane through legal maneuver and economic sabotage. The legal move came in the form of a Pilipinas Shell petition before a Makati trial court asking for a temporary restraining order on the controversial directive. Meanwhile, the economic sabotage came in the form of deliberate restriction on supply that resulted in some pump stations temporarily closing down or reducing service hours.

Sunday, September 13th, 2009

No matter how oil firms deny the allegations that they are overcharging the consumers, the widespread public perception that oil companies are abusive and profit-hungry will remain. This will be the case as long as the oil industry is deregulated and oil companies are allowed to automatically increase their prices and at the same time not compelled to publicly divulge how they compute their price adjustments.