{"id":5825,"date":"2026-03-21T05:16:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-21T05:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/balitangklik.com\/?p=5825"},"modified":"2026-03-21T05:16:40","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T05:16:40","slug":"trump-netanyahu-must-refund-pinoy-consumers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/balitangklik.com\/?p=5825","title":{"rendered":"Trump, Netanyahu must refund Pinoy consumers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo courtesy of India Today<\/em><\/p>\n

by Diego Morra<\/strong><\/p>\n

For waging an unprovoked and unnecessary war against Iran that has caused the prices of gasoline, diesel, kerosene and other oil products to skyrocket, the entire Filipino people should demand that both US President Donald John M. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must jointly refund Filipino motorists and consumers.<\/p>\n

It is the sovereign right of all Filipinos affected by the soaring prices of oil to protest before the US Embassy and the Israeli mission here and lodge what could be the biggest collection suits against Netanyahu and Trump, both of whom have been charged with corruption, with the latter being convicted on 34 counts of business frauds under New York state law and the latter pleading with Israeli President Isaac Herzog to be pardoned.<\/p>\n

For Netanyahu, waging war against Iran is a necessary distraction from his corruption case and a strategic maneuver to show that Israel can be the regional hegemon in the Middle East and the Arabs, Iranians and Gentiles be damned. For Trump, whose son-in-law Jared Kushner is a Zionist, Gaza, which is home to Palestinians, both Muslim and Christian, is but another piece of real estate that could be developed for his own benefit. It is Trump\u2019s greed that compelled him join Netanyahu in attacking Iran even when negotiations in Geneva were continuing, as what the United Arab Emirates disclosed. Trump and Netanyahu are not interested in a peaceful Middle East and they created the pretext to attack Iran.<\/p>\n

Notoriously ignorant, Trump has relied on Steve Witkoff, his golfing buddy who was suddenly assigned to be a diplomat, and Kushner, to create the biggest lie after the Bush claim that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) that should be confiscated and destroyed. The yarn peddled by Witkoff and Kushner is that Iran was close to developing nuclear missiles that could hit the US, a claim that nuclear experts have debunked. Worse, Kushner hallucinated that uranium was being enriched at the Tehran research reactor preparatory to arming missiles with nuclear payload.<\/p>\n

The reactor that Kushner describes as capable of enriching uranium was donated to Iran by the US in the 1960s to produce isotopes for medical purposes. The arrant nonsense has become a radioactive rumor that ignited Trump\u2019s tommyrot. As to the range of its missiles, even US intelligence confirmed that Tehran\u2019s missiles can only hit targets within a radius of 2,000 kilometers. Since Trump depends on Witkoff and Kushner, he believes their poppycock just as he believes the tall tales of Netanyahu, who thinks that Trump is a useful idiot.<\/p>\n

Since the war against Iran was a joint US-Israel enterprise, with NATO member-countries not being apprised on their planned aggression and Arab countries being blindsided, the US and Israel should be held liable for rising oil prices, the choking of the Strait of Hormuz being the reason why global supply is down, and they must be made to pay for the financial burden inflicted on Filipino consumers. With gasoline prices hitting the roof in a repeat of the 1973 oil embargo, Filipinos should be dumping the receipts from gas stations at the offices of US Ambassador MaryKay L. Carlson and Israeli Ambassador Dana Kursh and demanding they be reimbursed. The US and Israel started a war and they must restitute all those who had been affected direly by their misadventure.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the Philippine government is not giving Filipinos any relief from excessively high oil prices. There is no word about repealing the Oil Deregulation Law that gave the oil majors control of pricing, with government practically abdicating Its role as a market whip consistent with its constitutional duty to protect, defend and promote the well-being of the Filipino people. The P1 increase in minimum fares was even suspended by Malacanang, forcing the transport group Piston to launch a strike. Piston president Mody Floranda argues persuasively that the Marcos Jr. administration should have suspended the value-added tax (VAT) and excise tax on fuel products immediately. According to industry sources, the country\u2019s oil inventory could last until next month, meaning that oil companies purchased their oil before the US and Israel launched their war against Iran. Why is the government allowing the industry profiteers to collect more from the oil they purchased before Feb. 28, 2026?<\/p>\n

Floranda urged commuters and the people at large to support their strike. \u201cThey must voluntarily join the transport strike. Because this is not just for anyone else, this is for everyone.\u201d Bagong Alyansang Makabayan secretary general Mong Palatino said government can just suspend the collection of the excise tax on oil products. \u201cIf we are talking about the lack of funds, we have been suggesting to have a wealth tax. Tax the billionaires,\u201d he added. Moreover, pork barrel funds should be realigned to social services. Seizing the ill-gotten wealth of corrupt officials and using the same to pay for fuel purchases of farmers, fishermen and workers is not a bad idea. \u201cWhy is the burden passed on to the poor? Why are we carrying the burden of revenue generation and not the oil companies?\u201d Palatino protested.#<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo courtesy of India Today by Diego Morra For waging an unprovoked and unnecessary war against Iran that has caused the prices of gasoline, diesel, kerosene and other oil products to skyrocket, the entire Filipino people should demand that both US President Donald John M. Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must jointly refund […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editoryal"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t