What is this popular worldwide soft drinks company up to?
We are raising this question because we could not keep our ears shut with the increasing decibel of complaints by several small – and perhaps even big – eatery establishments that they could not anymore satisfy the needs of their customers when it comes to their requirements for this particular beverage product.
Yes, according to the complaining establishments it has been weeks already that they have not been able to purchase new stocks of this particular soft drinks – the one bottle enough for a meal’s drink. They claimed to us that they have gone to designated wholesalers by the company but they were told that they have not been receiving deliveries of the said beverage for days now.
When asked by the complaining small eatery or restaurant owner for the reason given by the world-renown soft drinks firm they claimed they were told that there is so far no production yet of the concerned product.
Again, what is the company up to with its somewhat intriguing sudden stop of production of the said product? In inquiries we made if only to give us some clearer ideas what is happening, we learned that the said beverage firm is not facing any labor problem. There is no strike. So what could have caused its stoppage of production of the said beverage product?
Of course we have this suspicion that the company may be facing some difficulties in getting their supply of sugar. We know for a fact that production of soft drinks requires a huge volume of sugar. And as we already knew locally produced sugar is getting scarcer by the day. We also know that importing sugar and its derivative products is getting difficult nowadays due to the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war. The two countries are among the biggest suppliers of sugar in the world.
Moreover, in these days when the global economy is reeling from the impact of the CoViD 19 pandemic and the possibility of food shortage, countries blessed with abundance of sugar are taking policies of having themselves benefited first of their produce rather than let their supply flow to other countries.
Somehow, we are trying ourselves to be convinced that the foregoing is the major reason. But knowing the magnitude of this soft drinks firm operation world-wide, it would be difficult to assume that the company suddenly lose foresight in projecting its possible sugar requirements for the production of the beverage.
So, what is really the soft drinks establishment up to? If we may hazard a guess a hike in the prices of this company’s particular soft drinks product is likely to follow very soon.
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This afternoon will be President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr.’s first State of the Nation Address” or SONA.
Will the newly installed President of the Philippines be like other Presidents in the past who in their first SONA, forgot to focus on the state of the nation when they took over and instead proceeded in highlighting what his plans are for the nation in his administration starting from his first year in office up the last year of his term?
This has been our observation in all first SONAs of previous Presidents of the republic. Perhaps out of respect or fear that the predecessors will suddenly become his or her staunchest critics on Day One of his or her administration the new President would rather focus on what he will do instead of why he or she has to do this or that and how.
In other words most, if not all of the first SONA of the country’s newly elected Presidents missed out in establishing the basis of his or her plans and why certain aspects of government must have to be corrected or improved or totally abandoned.
We are hoping that PBBM will not forget to coin his SONA exactly on what it should be. That is, first present without fear or favor, what he thinks of the real “State of the Nation” upon his assumption instead of highlighting directly his plans and policies.
The people deserve to know what they think of the new President’s knowledge of the country’s true state so that they can appropriately give the kind of support needed or perhaps come up with recommendations on how to better address certain issues affecting the nation.
Any attempt to sugarcoat certain situations is simply hiding something to the people. Therefore, government leaders cannot blame anyone if he or she refuses to cooperate or immediately assume a role as critical mass to the government policies.
