by Telly G. Ocampo
From “Once upon a time” to
“And they lived happily ever after”
When we were children, bedtime stories would
start with the phrase “Once upon a time” and
would end with the sentence, “And they lived
happily ever after!” Indeed, we grew in the midst of
a positive note from our storytellers: our parents
and grandparents. We were presented with the
fact that life could be a bed of roses as you make
it. Yes, life is what we make it. But, vis-a-vis the
positive note, was the reality that roses have their
thorns and the thorns could prick you like crazy.
Once upon a time, during our era, a ganta of rice
only cost fifty centavos. Fifty centavos, then, was
still in silver coin.
I remember that if there was extra and spare
supply, my Lola Danday would sell her available
well-milled rice after each harvest. I repeat, she
would only sell what was considered “excess” from
our needs. That was the time in Philippine history
when her tenants would bring to her house our
share of the rice harvest. She even did what we
call as the “patilaw ug abot” sa mga silingan labi
na gyud kung ubay-ubay ang ihatud nga among
bahin sa ani gikan sa mga saop (tenants). Our
neighbors were our cousins and relatives, so the
more that we practiced the attitude of
“magsinilingan gud ta”. We did not share by
gantas. Dili ginantang ang pagpatilaw. Tiaw ba!
Mga usa o duha ka sawpan, malipay na ming
magsilinganay.
Our palay was stored in the basanday and when it
was almost harvest time and my Lola Danday
would see that there was still enough stock at the
basanday, she was confident to sell a little from
our supply. Mahinumdom gyud ko nga inig
baligya ni Lola Danday ug humay, mag-amping
gyud siya nga dili mahagbong sa yuta aron dili
mausik ang hinagu-an ug siningtan sa mga
mag-uuma.
Then, when it was time to have the palay milled,
Lola Danday would practice FIFO – first in, first
out. Dili gyud to siya mosugot nga muabot ug
kabahay ang humay kay barato ang presyo
niini kung mabahay na.
During our time, there was no CARP yet and the
tenants were usually the families nga gibakwitan
panahon sa gubat; panahon sa guerra ba. We
called them our saop. Kasagaran sa gibakwitan
mao ang taga Bilar ug Carmen. That was the
reason that when it was almost Christmas, my Lola
Danday would spend time to look for the hand me
down clothes, kadtong mga tinubu-an nga
sinina nga ipanghatag ug madala sa mga saop
ngadto sa bukid gikan sila maghatud ug
among bahin sa ani sa basak.
Our tenants, when I was in the elementary were
really good, kind, industrious and lovable. They
would bring the bahin sa ani according to how
they (and we) computed and calculated was our
share. Mapuno lagi ug humay ang among
sudlanan. Maka sobra pa man gani sa abot si
Lola Danday maong makabaligya pa gyud siya
sa uban.
However, when i got into college, i noticed that the
share we received was not as bountiful as it used
to be. Nagkahilis ug nagkagamay ang bahin
namong humay. Then came the rent agreement
between the tenant and the land owner. Then
came the CARP. Then came the moment that we
almost didn’t have any share of rice at all.
CARP stands for Comprehensive Agrarian Reform
Program.
We don’t own several hectares of land.
Luwangluwang ra gud pud. So, we were not
supposed to be covered by CARP. My Lola
Danday owned only less than 3 hectares of rice
land. But with CARP, the attitude of farmers
changed and most of them became landowners for
awhile. Yes, only for awhile because experience
has shown that, eventually, the land that they got
thru CARP was sold back to the landowners.
Once upon a time, students from our neighbouring
ASEAN countries came to the Philippines to study
in our good schools. Most of them finished their
degrees in Agriculture from the University of the
Philippines, Los Baños, where the IRRI
(International Rice Research Institute) is situated.
Even if the rice center is here in the Philippines,
we still became a rice importing country and our
ASEAN neighbours, who sent their students here
to learn from our technology, became rice
exporters.
Kung ang kaniadtong bugas humay nga
mokantidad lang ug tag singkwenta sentabos
matag gantang (in the 1960s), pagka karon
mokantidad na ug singkwenta pesos matag
kilo. Hinumdumi, higala, nga sa matag
gantangan, adunay duha ug tunga ka kilo ang
sulod. So pila na man tanan ang kantidad sa
usa ka gantangan karon? Napakasakit Kuya
Eddie!!!
I’m just wondering why the 15 thousand peso rice
subsidy is given to the retailers????
I am just wondering if the “Once upon a time story”
would now end with “And they lived happily ever
after?”
Are we Filipinos now “living happily ever after”?
Photos from the internet
Layout by Joseph Puzon