EDITORS DESK

Two years into the pandemic and there are lots of surprising revelations from each of us.

I have observed that those already religious have become more faithful, openly expressing their faith, while others have turned to prayers. Individuals readily show their concern for those afflicted and compassion and care for each other. We have relearned to rely not just on our own but with each other.

We become good soldiers, too. We lined up to get our jabs. There is also no amount of procrastinations could bolster one’s defiance to vaccines as mobility rules have been tightened. Two years into the pandemic and I’ve subjected my body already to three COVID-19 vaccines, an annual flu shot and an anti pneumonia. The irony of it all is we still remain unprotected as the virus continues in a faster merry go round pace of infections.

And as the business world turned upside down, business owners and their workforce have become more understanding and cooperative. We have become more patient, working long hours, going the extra mile.

More and longer lockdowns become the new buzzword. Businesses have to close shops putting personnel on rotational work schedules and resulting in the loss of jobs to many Filipinos. Unemployment in the country peaked at 17.6 percent in April 2020, a month after the government imposed a hard lockdown in the country. More Filipinos endure untold poverty as the economy spiraled down.

With lesser jobs in the cities, the government has encouraged people to go back to the provinces and many have decided to return to their hometowns where the impact of the pandemic is less severe.

Indeed, the pandemic brings us to the realization of the need for self-reliance and sufficiency. In this time of crisis, I have learned that our needs can be broken down to the very basic. The most important is food security. That is why going back to the provinces is one thing that preoccupied the minds of most displaced “probinsyanos” in Manila because one cannot go hungry in a place where there is land to till and waters to fish. We only need what we ought to have, sheer industry.

This also comes to mind how our government policies have been shaped to make us reliant or not. For so long, our government policies have been geared towards import liberalization with very little support for domestic production, thus, paving the way for the flooding of all products imported, including the very basic food items.

It came to me as a shock that most of our basic food products are imported. Come to think of it, we import most of our salt needs in the country, whether for household or industrial requirements. We also import our fish and even the “galunggong,” the famous poor man’s fish.

The Department of Agriculture just signed the Certificate of Necessity to Import (CNI) 60,000 metric tons (MT) of small pelagic fish to plug projected fish supply shortfall in the first quarter this year.

We used to export chopsticks using our own wood, but they are all imported now, most of them disposable and are made of plastic materials.

We used to produce our own matches, but it is no longer fashionable now. We prefer the butane lighters, which come in handy, imported from China. Our vegetables like carrots, onions, garlic, ginger, and chilis are imported or smuggled in from China and elsewhere. We import most of our basic food staples from rice and corn.

Our meat supply is largely imported because we need to tame down the skyrocketing prices of pork that pushed inflation levels to peak during the pandemic.

It has become apparent that importation is the easy way out or the fastest only solution to our lack of domestic supply for our own food requirement. This is such a baloney in a country that has large tracts of fertile soil and rich natural resources.

Whatever happened to our government policies? Aren’t we the resilient lot? Or is it just us Filipinos becoming too complacent and just want to play “kawawa” as we look up to relief goods and “ayudas.” It’s just normal to rely on relief goods on the first few days from the strike of a typhoon or calamity, but we should not rely on these mannas from heaven, several days after. Certainly, we are grateful for the relief goods, but these are not sustainable. We should understand “donor fatigue” and self dignity. But we have become so accustomed and developed that relief mentality.

Finally, it dawned on me that another election is coming up. Again, this is another chance to choose a leader who could truly rally a nation and maximize our capacity for resilience.