We’ve been bombarded by lots of political noise, ugly manipulations and a “moro-moro” show in the formerly august halls of the Senate of the Philippine Republic. All these are happening as the world around us explodes with wars, oil shortages and just plain ugliness from “world leaders” who don’t give a rat’s ass for the common tao.

Inflation is reaching record highs while economic activity is on the downturn due to the effects of the massive corruption scandal that has drained the government coffers and the skyrocketing price of fuel oil. And what do we hear? “The Filipino is very resilient and will roll with the punches.”

Indeed, ordinary Filipinos have been grinning and bearing it for decades, subsisting on dole-outs and being made to think those giving them alms are their saviors. They vote for the scoundrels repeatedly while they go hungry the next three to six years. But how long can a people survive when they can’t feed their families, can’t get decent housing and jobs to pay for their living?

Instead of mouthing resilience platitudes, the government should instead create more jobs, improve mass transport and the educational system, support the farmers who feed the nation and make life generally less stressful for our citizens. Basically, that’s what government is supposed to do anyway, but has failed massively through the years. So, it’s not too much to ask, right?

But let’s face it. These can’t be done overnight even if our government starts now. Besides, without controlling corruption, funds will not be available for these projects. It is up to us, ordinary citizens to fend for ourselves. Better not hold your breath waiting for government to rescue you or you will turn blue and die with eyes wide open from hunger.

We need to start with being able to feed our people properly with locally harvested food, instead of importing (smuggling) everything from rice to onions to chickens to beef. It is very profitable for importers to bring in these food items from other countries, but at the expense of our farmers who don’t get government support and are also being strangled by middlemen who buy their produce cheap and sell at high prices.

The main issue is the lack of post-harvest facilities to extend the shelf life of agricultural products. Without refrigeration, fruits and vegetables quickly rot in the tropical heat. This has been a problem from the start, yet government doesn’t seem to care. Is it because the importers are in cahoots with government officials? So, there is no impetus to provide post-harvest facilities?

But come the crunch, when it becomes more expensive to import due to very high transport costs brought about by the Iran war, we will be left scrambling for our daily meals when markets run out of food items. It’s not too late but it better be done now, not when Filipinos are already starving.

To add to our misery, we now have rotating brownouts due to the lack of power plant capacity. It’s a repeat of what happened in the late 80s when brownouts stretched to 8-12 hours a day, and the electrical current voltage was fluctuating heavily that our appliances like freezers and refrigerators died early. Hopefully, it won’t be as prolonged and severe as before.

What’s frustrating is, the country has many natural and non-polluting sources of energy, as detailed in my April 28, 2026 column (Pollution, air quality, landfills and the Clean Air Act). Being in the Pacific Rim of fire, we have geothermal energy being wasted when volcanoes erupt. Harnessing geothermal energy is already being done, but it should be scaled up. There are many sources of hydroelectric power, and with a very long shoreline, tidal energy and wind turbines can also be viable sources of non-polluting energy. Waste-to-energy is also a viable alternative, but only if we amend the Clean Air Act that banned burning of garbage. We desperately need to be self-sufficient in clean energy.

People are only asking for enough wages, affordable food, shelter and clothing to live decently. Even then, our politicos seem to be so out of touch with reality on the ground that they won’t do anything that will ameliorate living conditions for the vast majority of Filipinos.

Filipinos are a resilient lot, however, as the common saying goes, “Pag napuno na ang salop,…” there will be hell to pay. A people can only make do with so little for a certain time period. They will rise up. The 1986 EDSA Revolution was a peaceful one, but there is no guarantee the next one will also be violence- and bloodshed-free.

May I remind you of what happened during the French Revolution. The rallying cry of the revolting French people was “Off with their heads!” Take a hint.