By Jan Vicente B. Pekas
Ever since I became a family man, I have been the taga palengke. Not that I am too “ander de saya” as they call husbands who are too afraid of their wives (although sometimes I am). But it is because of my vegetarian diet that prevails in the house. While my wife is not very strict like me in my plant-based diet, my two kids are following my food preference, for now, at least. And it is also for this reason that I am very familiar with the prices of our basic food needs at the public market and also at the groceries and supermarket.
As I already anticipated starting on the last quarter of last year when prices of vegetables and fruits started to rise, such prices will not be going down to their usual levels. I have this feeling that such trend is following the rising prices of grocery items and according to the government and the business community, these are due to problems in the international scene. What can be more convenient than blaming the Russian-Ukraine war?
As had been our experience in the past, whenever the fuel energy prices rise, everything follows. The biggest negative impact are felt in countries like ours that overwhelmingly depend on imported fuel energy. Public transport fare increases especially of PUJs, taxis and buses last year naturally followed as part of the domino effects.
After the New Year I passed by my favorite vegetable section of the public market hoping to see that prices had gone down but to no avail. Except for tomatoes and Baguio beans, the prices of other vegetables and fruits that had been sky-high since the first week of December did not move at all. For example, Irish potatoes (patatas) of the good size and quality are priced at P120 to P130 per kilo. Never mind the price of onions (which had gone berserk) but which can easily be done without when cooking. That’s why I don’t understand why the government is putting too much importance to it.
On fruits, bananas which are the usual ones on common peoples] tables might be on its way-out. The good kind like the “lakatan” of the right size are now priced at P100 to P130 per kilo.
But prices of basic grocery items have been increasing a few months ahead of the vegetables, fruits, and, yes, fish and meat. I almost forgot to mention these. But there it is, lest I be accused of being partial and not concerned on the foods that are not in the list of a vegetarian’s diet.
As if this current economic situation is not enough, this week, the change of leadership in both the Department of National Defense and the Armed Forces of the Philippines is seemingly causing some discontent among people in those institutions. Unfortunately, such noise is a reflection of the kind of weak leadership the President is showing the people, something that, at least, never happened during the previous administration. To make things even worse was the supposed fake statement from the Philippine National Police on a national red alert due to developments in the AFP and the DND. As if the PNP as an institution could thwart a possible AFP coup, if ever. Recent memory, especially during the administration of the late President Cory Aquino, have shown that the PNP was never a big factor on the serious but failed coup attempts staged by the military. Furthermore, isn’t the PNP leadership also facing criticisms from its third-tier officials (police lieutenants, colonels and majors) due to the alleged involvement of a few high ranking officials on illegal drugs?
Why am I jumping on this DNP-AFP issue? It should be noted that our economy and the stability of our military are very closely related. Economic development is directly affected whenever things go awry at our AFP’s major camps not to mention the immediate loss of confidence of foreign and local investors. Foreign capital that are on the pipeline will, of course, execute an about face while local businesses will have a wait and see attitude. And if things will get worse (we hope it will not happen again like during the late 80s), the so-called capital flight will surely happen. Why don’t we want to see a flight of capital? We know for a fact that we need more investments in the private and government sectors. In fact, just this week, the Finance department announced another $3 billion fresh borrowing. So, for me, the biggest concern now is for the present leadership to calm the situation at the AFP and the DND.
The good thing is that the Japanese funded Metro-Manila sub-way project, a mega project, finally started. These are the type of projects that should have been engaged in by the government as early as 30 years ago to solve traffic congestion, not only in the NCR but in all highly urbanized cities. It’s this kind of economic development that will help calm a turbulent situation. **
