As the oil situation drives up prices at the pump and across food and other goods, Pea skips the talk about crude prices and the global economy and goes to the people hit hardest: everyday Filipinos living on a few pesos a day. She interviews a tricycle driver, a sari-sari store owner, a shellfish vendor, a single dad and a young woman about how the price hikes are changing their lives. It is a ground-level look at what visitors will find in the Philippines right now.
Setup
- The Philippines, like many places, is seeing a series of price hikes driven largely by the oil situation, and food and other goods are rising too.
- Pea's questions: How bad is it? Are there food shortages or problems getting gas? Is it a bad time to visit, and what will you find when you get here? Her plan is to "cut through all the spin" and talk to people on the street.
- Gas prices: last year around 60 pesos per liter, which she puts at about $4 a gallon. Now about $6 a gallon, a 50% increase.
Kuya Ace, tricycle (trike) driver
- Pea explains that trikes are common in provincial areas and barangays and also found in bigger cities.
- His take-home used to be around 500 to 800 pesos a day depending on how long he worked. Now it's about 350, nearly cut in half.
- Drivers raised the minimum fare per passenger from 10 to 12 pesos, about 20% higher.
- Passengers are not okay with it. He once argued with a customer who thought he was overcharging. It didn't become a fist fight, "but close."
- Getting gas: stations now have a cap. You can get about a full tank but you can't buy an extra gallon for yourself.
- Some drivers chose not to work that day because it was barely worth their while.
- No more savings for fun or for taking a wife or girlfriend on a dinner date. He works from 4:00 a.m. to 10:00. Pea asks if he still has energy for "loving loving." He laughs and says he has no girlfriends right now. Pea: "How about a girlfriend, singular?" He's single.
Ate Bless, sari-sari store owner
- Pea explains a sari-sari store is the barangay's convenience store or corner store, like a 7-Eleven.
- Bless buys supplies from a bigger grocery store or wholesaler and resells them, so she now pays more and has to charge more.
- Some customers are unhappy with her prices and some understand that prices have gone up.
- Customers now buy only basic necessities like rice, sardines and condiments. No more "fun stuff" like chips and soda.
- Rice is bought in tiny amounts, 1 kilo or half a kilo at a time.
- It is hurting her business. Her fear is that if prices don't come down she will have no customers left who can afford to buy anything.
Nanay Joy, shellfish vendor
- Sells mussels at 80 pesos per kilo.
- Everything has gone up, gas and food. Her explanation for food prices: they're based on the price of gas, so when gas goes up everything goes up.
- She is the sole provider because her husband is sick. She budgets and tries her best but it's really hard, and she has no choice.
Kuya Albert, single dad and working student
- Has two kids, studies part-time, and does bookkeeping as a sideline.
- Earns minimum wage, 325 pesos a day.
- Everything has gone up and he has had to budget and cut expenses.
- His fear: both kids have asthma. If prices don't come down he may not be able to afford their medication, and that could be fatal. Pea says as a parent she can't imagine that horror.
- (Albert becomes the subject of Pea's follow-up video the next week.)
Casey
- Says prices of gas, food, clothing and everything are going up.
- Personally she can no longer buy new clothes, skin care or perfume, and has cut those in half. Pea sums it up as no more fun stuff, no more going out to the movies with friends.
- Pea starts to ask what happened with Casey's job, which Casey mentioned earlier, but the transcript loops and cuts off before any answer.
Outro skit
- Pea plays a waitress serving "hot fresh content" every week. Her tip is a thumbs up, a subscription, the notification bell and sharing the video. "You don't want to stiff your waitress, do you?" For dessert, her other videos.
