By Leonardo Micua

 

THOSE who are not concerned about the disappearance of Coca-Cola and its allied products in the shelves of supermarkets and sari-sari stores, we would like to announce we do and it matters to us. This even if we are not a drinker of Coke nor a fan of it.

It is not only because Coke is the number one beverage drink in the country and of the world but rather the repercussion that the disappearing Coke has caused on the economy when rabid drinkers of product, who are legions, cannot buy this product from usual outlets.

There are thousands of people depending on Coke and other beverages for a living. These include workers in the manufacturing plants, who temporarily stopped their jobs when the plants suspended operations on account of shortage of bottler grade refined sugar, the chief ingredient to produce the beverage drink.

And what you may think is the major reason for true shortage of the sweetened beverage ingredients?  It is no other than the faux pax in the Sugar Regulatory Administration that at first decided to import sugar from abroad due to perceived shortage of the commodity. But this was countermanded personally by President Bongbong Marcos.

The faux pax was exacerbated by finger pointing of officials forcing some to tender their resignation. Even ES Vic Rodriguez also resigned after his name was implicated as having ordered the alleged authorized sugar importation, which he flatly denied during a Senate hearing.

However, the importation of sugar was finally authorized but at a lower volume of 150,000 metric tons, too late and forcing the beverage plants to temporarily suspend operations for lack of bottlers grade refined sugar to use.

You see!

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Many may not know that  the Pangasinan  Police Provincial Office (PPO) under P./Col. Jeff Fanged marked its busiest day ever yet last August 30 2022 when it arrested 280 wanted persons, the highest it ever arrested in a single day and also the highest all over Police Regional Office 1. 

This remarkable record was made when the police in all 48 towns and cities served arrest warrants issued by the courts on wanted persons living in various localities during the Simultaneous Implementation of the Anti-Criminality Law Enforcement Operation (SACLEO), which was done by all other police stations all over the country.

This enabled PRO 1 under P/Brig. General Belli Tamayo to take the top spot among all Police Regional Offices in the entire country in the number of arrests of wanted persons in a single day. 

This means that 280 criminals hiding in our sitios, barangays, towns and cities wanted by the law for various crimes were simultaneously ferreted out and all are now placed behind bars. 

Well done, Col. Fanged.  Keep up the good work!

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Speaking of barangays, here’s what I learned  from Facebook: It was until September 14, 1974 or exactly two years after the declaration of martial law that the old “barrio” we long knew before had been renamed “barangay”.

This was based on Presidential Decree No. 58 signed by then President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos, father of the incumbent president, Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr.

The term “barrio”, that was believed originated way back during the Spanish time, was the smallest governmental unit in the Philippines. The head of the barrio then was called Teniente del Barrio, who by the way was treated with utmost respect. But in the 60’s, the barrio lieutenant was promoted a rank higher to “Kapitan del Barrio” or Barrio Captain.

With the issuance of PD 58, the barrio was renamed barangay, that many chroniclers said was derived from “balangay”, the frail wooden sail boats used by early Filipinos to cross the seas.

Elaborating on what we read, it was the “balangay”, that as used by early Malayan, Indonesians and other Asians to migrate to our shores and became the ancestors of the early Filipinos.

For those who have been to Malaysia and Indonesia like me, the Behasa Malaysia and Behasa Indonesia have distinct similarities with our Tagalog language and even our own Pangasinan language!

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