On an issue as fluid, volatile, and iffy as oil prices, between government freezers and frozen industry players, who was supposed to blink and save the day for consumers?

Curiously enough, neither. For it was the referee who blinked. Industrialist and oil price watchdog Raul Concepcion, whose businesses are heavy users of fuel, was first to buckle.

As Malacañang ordered an “assessment” of the state of calamity in Luzon, the oil firms dug in, refusing to buy fresh stocks or release old inventories. But if a calamity of region-wide proportions has to be assessed this late in the day, is it a “calamity?” Maybe a wee one? And if four million people are still living in a state of calamity in evacuation centers, how much diesel and gasoline would they need?

Would Defense Secretary Gibo Teodoro, chairman of the National Disaster Coordinating Council, ever have imagined that a disaster like Ondoy-Pepeng-Santi would decide the battle between state price control, private business profits and liability, and users' convenience?

As for the oil firms’ “threat” – media’s word – to keep supply tight, tell that to Ralph Recto and his former NEDA pencil pushers who once computed an “overprice” of P8.

So it was a surprise –relief – to hear it straight from the horse’s mouth: Mr. Concepcion on government radio stating that the time was right, now, to allow the oil companies to start charging an increase of P4.50, though not all at once but in small increments.

The irony of it all. A prolonged freeze could only lead to the high prices of commodities that EO 839 wanted to prevent. But with Mr. Watchdog’s face-saving suggestion, oil’s well that’s about to end well.

But only if the people in Malacañang recognize a face-saving step for what it is.