If increase in the prices of commodities is a sign of real progress then Bohol is really progressing. And because price increases in Bohol has been exponential in the past few weeks and months, progress in Bohol must also be exponential. No wonder tourists and visitors are slowly flocking to Bohol after the M7.2 earthquake. They would like to find out what it is to spend more than when they go instead to other popular destination with cheaper commodities. They can afford the luxury of high prices anyway. Among the locals here only the poor are complaining about high prices. Only the poor are suffering but that should not concern the authorities or agencies of government charged with business, trade and industry. Those affected are only a minority of more than 30% who are pooramong the Boholano population.

It doesn't matter that unleaded gasoline is now priced at P60.20 a liter while in the neighboring province of Cebu, only about 36 or 40 nautical miles away, the same gasoline costs only P50.45 a liter. Will somebody please tell me why this is so for the last ten years? Why should prices be that exorbitant in Bohol? Are the poor here less poor than in Cebu or Manila or Davao? I have yet to hear the cause for this high cost that is acceptable to reason. Are motorized vehicles in Bohol super fuel efficient as to compensate for the high cost? May be yes. Brand new compact cars consume gasoline like they were motorcycles. Well yes that is good. Everybody can afford to buy new cars what with the exponential progress of Bohol. It is a surprise operators of public conveyances have not called for increase in fare. The agitators must have gone soft or they are no longer here in Bohol. My daughter fancies yogurt which used to cost only P23 a piece of the small sized cup. But now it is already priced at P30 and she gets angry with her mother every time her mother comes home from the grocery store without buying one. And what about fish? Bohol is an island and therefore it is surrounded by unlimited fishing grounds. So why is burot-burotand the other so-called bayand of the poor be priced at P150 or morea kilo when they can be bought at P80 before? Same is true with other kinds of fish.

The list of basic commodities can go on and on. The trend is the same – an uninterrupted upward move in prices and the agencies concerned have not been able to arrest it to the consternation of the lowly citizens. Whatkind of power do the hands that manipulate prices have? How come local government officials are helpless against them? Gov. Edgar M. Chatto has brought this problem of the unconscionable fuel price in Bohol some months ago to the cabinet meeting here but nothing positive has come out of it despite assurances. There is nothing Boholanos can think of but that some people continue to laugh their way to the bank. If this is the prize of progress, then I would rather return to the age of cavemen.