MEDIUM RARE
Jullie Y. Daza
There are two angry ladies in the Senate.
Senator Cynthia Villar to resource persons from the Department of Agriculture: “Maybe BAI stands for Bureau of Animal Imports? And what have you done in the last 25 years to increase dairy production?”
Senator Imee Marcos to the same department (which her brother heads as secretary) on the same issue, at another venue: “Why import onions when harvest time is just around the corner? Don’t import, import unless there’s an urgent need, and only for a short time, to fill a gap.”
Another lady, one without a title but only a basket while doing her shopping at the palengke: “I can wear onions like a necklace made of gold, so expensive!” She didn’t sound like the type to wage war on profiteers, in fact she looked embarrassed admitting that ₱600 per kilo was too pricey to complete what Senator Marcos describes as the “holy trinity” of the art of cooking, Philippine style: garlic, tomato, onion. Without all three, let DA people try cooking by sautéing.
If memory serves, senators have pinpointed, even named, the greedy merchants who make it a habit to make a killing by manipulating demand and supply. What can lawmakers do if they cannot prosecute nor fry the guilty parties in their own fat?
Senator Villar continued to taunt her resource persons: “You hold doctorates, but you don’t display any common sense. It’s true, common sense isn’t common. Why do you import when there’s enough local supply?”
The answer sounded like a squeak: “The system was already in place when we came in.” Senadora would not let go: “What system? That’s not a system!”
As for dairy production – long ago, a certain senator Joseph Estrada filed a bill to promote the carabao industry which, one supposed, would’ve included milking cows. You can drink all the Coke and San Mig beer you want anywhere in the Philippines, but where to buy a bottle of fresh milk?
Twenty-five years and nothing to show but a string of doctorate titles? TV news did not allow us to hear how the BAI officials dared answer Senator Villar without getting scalped. Nor did the cameras reveal closeups of their faces and nameplates, the more’s the pity.