A CIGARETTE vendor walks past a signage with the Filipino equivalent of the slogan “Fight Poverty” along Roxas Boulevard in Manila. For a man who sells candies and cigarettes to survive each day, projections of double-digit inflation rate seem redundant: The pain is real. --NONIE REYES

IGNORING questions about the legality of its sourcing funds for a slew of inflation-busting subsidies, Malacañang Palace Monday launched the latest in a series of programs funded by the initial proceeds of the value-added tax (VAT) on oil: a P1-billion loan assistance to convert public-utility vehicles (PUVs) into “green” means of transport.

JUSTICE Secretary Raul Gonzalez Monday defended the legality of the P500 power subsidy granted by President Arroyo to those consuming 100 kilowatt-hours or less a month, saying it is part of the President’s discretionary powers.

THE government has been losing an average of P142.03 billion in taxes and duties annually since 2002 due to smuggling, or more than double the P65 billion the Department of Finance (DOF) reported earlier, if figures on the country’s importation receipts culled by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are to be made as basis.

EXPECT to have your worst feelings on prices confirmed next month when the June inflation data is released by the National Economic and Development Authority (Neda), which said it may well be around 10 percent.

FINALLY, good news amid rising prices of commodities.

Domestic flour millers announced Monday they would not be raising their prices at least up to the end of the month, which augurs well for the local bakeries and bread-buying public.

SEN. Edgardo Angara Monday backed moves to provide for a supplemental budget to the Department of Agriculture (DA) for 2008, insisting on the need to spend more on the country’s agriculture sector in order to cushion the impact of rising food and fuel prices.

UNLESS beneficial and advantageous to the public and stakeholders and at a premium, the government is not keen on taking advantage of the possible tender offer by London-based Ashmore group’s SEA Refinery Holdings or selling its stake in Petron Corp.

TOP refiner Petron Corp. launched Monday its new 10-percent ethanol- blended gasoline (E10) Premium product in selected Metro Manila service stations as part of efforts to make available cheaper and more environment-friendly fuels for motorists.

THE local arm of American car manufacturer Ford Group Philippines on Monday unveiled its E85 Ford Explorer as part of its “sustainable transport solutions” to help combat soaring prices of imported oil.

A P3.6-billion railway-project contract that will run from Monumento in Caloocan City to North Avenue in Quezon City was awarded to DMFB Joint Venture, a consortium between DMCI Holdings Inc. and First-Balfour Inc.

A NEW biography on the life of businessman Antonio L. Cabangon Chua, founder of the highly diversified Fortune Group of Companies, is now off the press.

THE Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) firmly restaked its claim as the engine of transformation in East Asia in the face of Australian attempts to allegedly dilute it with a new cooperative framework.

THE Filipino company Herma Shipping and Transport Corp. will follow up its successful launch of the “first Filipino-made international class tanker” M/T Matikas with three more such double-hulled vessels and is now in talks with several oil companies for the planned tankers. Matikas is now on long-term charter with Petron.

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DRIVERS check a modified passenger jeepney that runs purely on liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) as fuel during the unveiling of the country’s first batch of public utility vehicles running on alternative fuels Monday, at the anniversary of the Land Transportation Franchising and Regulatory Board at the SM Mall of Asia. With soaring prices of gasoline, diesel and other oil products, the Philippines is now seriously tapping LPG, compressed natural gas and hybrid electric prototypes as alternative fuels. --AP