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WHAT if instead of lining up for rice and pushing against the crowd
for one’s rations a person boycotts the grain? Or if a consumers
group decides to call for a boycott? Or everybody?
Anger would be a good reason. Anger over having
to line up and jostle for the staple in rain or in broiling heat.
Having to line up for a rice pass. Having to spend time waiting when
one could be doing something else. Or not having the money for it.
Filipinos seldom riot over food. Except for the
Japanese occupation of the islands from 1942 to 1945, there had
never been mass starvation. Filipinos have been taught since grade
school that the Philippines is an agricultural country. There is
also a popular saying that no Filipino dies of hunger because crops
are plentiful.
Instead of rioting—which the Mexicans, French
and Romans have done through the ages—Filipinos could boycott the
national food. An Italian consumer group did that in 2007 when
shortages of wheat jacked up the cost of pasta. When they went
shopping they bought lots of foodstuff except macaroni or spaghetti.
A boycott makes for a dramatic statement. That
would worry the government. What’s going on? How to respond to a
strike against rice?
A boycott of course means denying oneself or his
family. That’s the point. We should declare our independence from
rice. Declare freedom from importation. Hasten the death of the NFA.
Encourage the production of other crops. Adopt a new lifestyle and a
new diet.
Imagine the variety of the alternatives. One day
we could feast on broiled or boiled corn and corn soup. The next, we
could have a choice of instant noodles in different flavors. A cup
of mung beans or “mongo” with chicharon and ampalaya leaves is
nutritious and filling. A feast of plantain or “saba” introduces
the Mexican kitchen to our home. The only day we have rice is the
day we eat “lugao,” (congee or porridge) topped with green
onions, deep-fried garlic, fish or meat.
Foregoing rice is an act of patriotism. You help
build the economy each day you give up the national food. You help
strengthen the national backbone. If your neighborhood consumer
group calls for a boycott, line up and sign your name.
Secretary, maid, mistress, wife
IT was Secretaries Day on Wednesday, April 23,
but the bosses did not give them a dayoff.
We saw an ad which said there would be a two-day
convention at a Malate hotel but the registration fee was stiff and
the affair very business-like.
We would have wanted to see an affair where the
bosses pay their secretaries compliments and thank them for helping
run the office. A rose and an envelope would be fine, too.
Executive secretaries are a very big asset to a
business organization or government office. The good ones can run
the office without the boss, sometimes even better than their
superiors. We know many executives who cannot function without the
secretary.
Apart from the secretary, three other important
women inhabit the life of the modern male Filipino executive: the
maid, the spouse and the lover.
The maid straightens out the boss’s life,
organizes his life and makes him look good with her cleaning,
ironing and cooking. Among the rich, the supportive maid often
substitutes for the spouse or mother. We know children who are
closer to their yaya or helper. They spend more time with their
guardians. At school functions, a maid is likely to be the child’s
companion, applauding him or pinning a medal because the mother is
someplace else.
The mistress, especially the young one, serves
as status symbol. She is a crutch when the missus is failing on her
job. It is not an embarrassment or a shame for a public official to
be living with one or to be seen with one in public. Former
President Joseph Estrada, like many French bureaucrats, makes no
secret about his affairs. The cardinal rule is to take good care of
the family—wife and children—when one is having a fling. The
Number Twos perform an important role.
A movement is growing afoot to organize
mistresses into a party-list group for representation in the House
because they want to assert their rights and to clean up their
image.
The Filipino mother is the best in the world.
She combines a range of professions under the rubric of
“housewife.” She is parent, taskmaster, manager, housekeeper,
accountant, treasurer, spouse and, when the time comes, the best
grandmother.
A group of housewives has asked Sen. Loren
Legarda to introduce a bill that entitles them to a monthly pay.
They claim, and rightly so, that they are not appreciated for their
work, that their labors, performed 24 hours a day, deserve
compensation. If their tasks were outsourced, it would mean
considerable expense for the breadwinner.
The group members say the government, if not
their spouses, ought to consider some compensation for their work.
Failing that, they will either strike or organize themselves into a
national lobby, enlisting the help of the secretaries, maids and
mistresses.
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