Proudly made in Phl

In celebration of Filipino Food Month, I finally ended my three years of self-quarantine in Metro Manila and nearby areas, and took a day trip with my mom to the home province of my paternal grandmother, Pangasinan.

The province is one of my favorite places for Filipino food. For lunch in our hometown Mangatarem, I had the best dinengdeng, courtesy of my Auntie Lily, an accomplished cook, plus grilled catfish and homemade salted duck eggs – oily, not overly salty, exactly the way I like it.

My aunt sent us off with a pack of the best tupig from Patring’s, just across her house along Romulo Highway, plus luscious Pangasinan carabao mangoes, a bilao each of green pinipig biko, kulambo (kalamay) and the local fermented rice called binuburan.

Patring’s special tupig is a good example of success based on quality products. For a long time I avoided eating tupig, after tasting in my childhood one too many dried-out inferior stuff that reminded me of banana leaves gradually burning while being used as pads for charcoal-heated clothes irons. The banana leaves, we were told, made the charcoal iron glide smoothly instead of sticking to clothing that was being pressed. (In some parts of Asia, banana leaves are still used for this purpose even for electric irons.) So I referred to tupig as the rice cake or suman na lasang plancha. Patring’s tupig, prepared the proper way and without scrimping on ingredients, irreversibly changed my opinion of this Pangasinan delicacy.

Auntie Lily’s dinengdeng was salted with local bagoong isda and had broiled milkfish or bangus from Dagupan City, where we later bought fresh, marinated and smoked bangus at the main fish market. And of course we bought three other famous Pangasinan products: patis or fish sauce, the bagoong isda and sea salt.

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In the region that is the biggest producer of native onions, I was glad to note that finally, onion prices no longer make you weep.

During the Holy Week break, locally grown red onions and pungent native shallots were priced at P60 to P90 a kilo by the roadside in Lingayen, Pangasinan. Small white onions were also available at up to P120 a kilo depending on the quality.

The price drop from the eye-watering P700 to P750 a kilo of red onions during the Christmas holidays can be attributed to the arrival of imports combined with the peak of the harvest.

It was disappointing though that the pungent Ilocos garlic, braided or gathered together in large bunches, had disappeared from most of the roadside stalls in Pangasinan. The wholesalers by the main road in Lingayen told me the farm gate price was too high so they just sold the large imported varieties, which were cheaper and were being retailed at just P100 to P120 a kilo depending on the quality.

On the way back to Manila, we finally chanced upon a row of roadside stalls still selling the native Ilocos garlic in the traditional braids or bunches. Only one stall was retailing the garlic at P270 a kilo; the rest priced their products from P350 to P400. No wonder my suki wholesaler in Divisoria stopped selling the native garlic; she told me the price was way too high.

Yesterday, red onions were being retailed at P120 to P150 a kilo at the wet market in my part of Metro Manila, while white onions were at P150 to P180.

Whether the Marcos administration, which happens to be headed by the secretary of agriculture, has learned its lesson and can avert another onion crisis in the second half of the year remains to be seen.

As the latest survey released by pollster Pulse Asia showed, the approval rating of President Marcos has dipped, although still impressively high. And his administration received the lowest marks in controlling inflation.

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Food and consumer prices are gut issues that everyone understands, and public sentiment over them can therefore be accurately gauged in reputable surveys.

This is unlike the Maharlika Investment Fund, whose nature is constantly shifting like an amoeba and lacks clarity even to investment bankers. So it’s astonishing that a first quarter survey came out recently, purportedly showing majority public support for the fund.

Let’s hope BBM does not fall for this supposedly non-commissioned survey. Even the original proponents of Maharlika surely can no longer recognize what the fund is morphing into. At the hands of unprofessional characters, polling can be harmful to the nation.

As for performance surveys and approval ratings, public sentiment on the handling of gut issues can determine the trajectory of the numbers.

Even without surveys, we can see that inflation is hands down a key problem. BBM can’t keep throwing money – tax money – at the problem, through unsustainable subsidies for an ever-growing list of goods and services.

Subsidies can also throw market forces awry, offering unfair competition that can kill legitimate enterprises.

While providing relief to the poor through Kadiwa outlets, there should be greater effort to bring down the prices of sugar in regular outlets. The commodity has resisted every effort to temper prices. This has fueled stories about certain persons with strong connections raking in billions and unable to moderate their greed, which is causing much grief, from the institutional consumers like soft drink makers all the way down to the ambulant vendors of banana-Q and sa malamig.

A strong republic is not built on a culture of dependence on dole-outs and subsidies. It is built on an empowered, capacitated citizenry whose skills contribute to national production, who pay taxes and whose income rather than state-funded ayuda powers consumption.

A strong republic has a viable, vibrant agriculture and food sector, with the people engaged in farming, fisheries and traditional food production not stuck in a cycle of poverty.

During Filipino Food Month, this sector should have genuine reason to celebrate, and be proud of their livelihoods and heritage.