Summer heat

By Marifi Jara

Summer seems to have come so suddenly this year.

One day on the second week of March, it was still quite chilly in the late afternoon until early morning and nicely cool during the daytime, then the next day, as if from nowhere, the heat came to signal that summer has definitely arrived.

And it has been hot, hot, hot since.

It is this heat, shooting up to the human fever level of 38 degrees (and feels even higher at noontime!), that so many people have to bear when lining up at outlets selling NFA rice, priced at almost half now compared with the more high-end commercial rice.

What makes it even worse is that the supply is limited with each person allowed only a maximum of two kilos. Not here in Pangasinan but some places have even resorted to putting indelible ink on those who have already purchased for the day so they cannot “hoard” and keep going back to buy more — as if a person buying 10 kilos of cheap rice for a poor household of 8-10 people could be considered hoarding.

It is so pathetic really, especially because our government keeps telling us that there is no problem and more so a crisis.

If all that lining up, restricted supply, and indelible ink tactic are not indications of a problem, nay a major crisis, I honestly don’t know what is.

And the forecast in the coming days and weeks is by no means comforting. The worst is yet to come with reports that commercial rice is going to hit P40-P50 per kilo. And that was just at the P20-level at the start of the year.

I do not know how, for example, the daily subsistence fishermen in my town San Fabian are coping.

I was at the beach for a refreshing swim with some visiting colleagues Tuesday afternoon and the fishermen, as in their regular routine, went out to sea, mostly in pairs in their traditional Philippine bankas, around 3 pm. They were soon back with hardly any catch. Kapuy was their term as I approached a couple of fisherman who showed me a basket barely half-filled with just dilis, worth about P100 at the most. They’ll be going out again, they said, in the evening, hopeful that the abused sea will be kinder.

As I sat mesmerized facing the ever gorgeous Lingayen Gulf sunset, half-listening to my friends chattering and the banter of so many local children playing out on the beach amidst the long line of parked bankas, my thoughts were drifting out to the harshness of this scorching season.

*****

The College of Arts and Communication of UP Baguio is again hosting the revived Summer Arts Festival on April 14-25. Half-day seminars have been lined up on various topics and there are plenty on offer for children like Kiddie Broadcasting, Children’s Theater, Paper Arts and Street Dancing. Visual, written and performance arts seminars are also scheduled for adults. There are also several sessions for teachers, particularly on teaching language, writing, and theater. For more information, email cac@upb.edu.ph or call 0910-2504935, 0917-5060080.

(Readers may reach columnist at marifijara@gmail.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/roots/
For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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