Limlingan: How How the Carabao

Thursday, January 26, 2012

CARABAO owners in Candaba town are urging local officials to promote the use of this beast in their farming activities.

When I was a kid, I used to live in the countryside known as the "baryo". The baryo is a typical community where "bahay kubos, kahit munti" thrive. The air is so fresh and most of the scenery is back-dropped by the verdant grass and trees. The carabao is often sighted either cleaning the fields, preparing it to be planted with palay.

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When the palay has been planted, the carabao is still used to cultivate the soil for the former to grow until the harvest season. During harvest time, the carabao is not anymore pulling the plough or the "araro" but a cart where the harvested rice is carried from the fields to the "camalig" or the palay warehouse.

It was a typical baryo ambience where part of my childhood was spent.

Today, aside from the dwindling number of farmlands in the countryside, as caused by their development into subdivisions, the number of farmers using the carabao has decreased too. The typical baryo scene where a carabao is on its starring role is gone.

The carabao has been replaced either by the giant-wheeled tractor or the hand tractor better known as "kuliglig".

Blame it on the technology that has made our farmers use machinery rather than the lowly carabao in their farming routine.

Going back to the Candaba folks, they are urging their fellow farmers and the local officials too in the promotion of the use of the carabao in tilling their ricefields.

They emphasized that while using machinery in their farmlands is faster and easier, machineries emit pollution when they are used. They added that it is easier to maintain a carabao instead of the machines since the latter uses fuel and has to be maintained with spare parts.

Fuel prices have started to rise again since the start of the year and this is an additional burden for farmers to come up with their need for fuel.

The humble carabao is easier to maintain as it feeds only on grass that is abundant in

baryos. It does not need a big garage for parking but a small stable can be a good shelter for the carabao.

Aside from the promotion of its use, the national government should support this call by giving young carabaos to farmers who cannot afford to have one. Those who are using this beast in their farms should be given incentives or subsidies for utilizing organic farming in their activities.

--oo0oo--

Speaking of carabao, the Catholic Church has a co-proponent in the person of Senator

Lito Lapid for the use of Filipino (language) in the impeachment trial against Supreme Court Chief Justice Renato Corona. The humble Senator who is known for speaking carabao English is proposing the use of our national language in order for the Filipinos to relate well with the proceedings.

He stressed that while many are now hooked on the impeachment trial, he said using the language will further arouse the interest of the public in monitoring the development of the impeachment proceedings.

This may probably be true, but definitely it will give prosecutors as well as the defense panel and the judges themselves a hard time in conducting the trial. There are plenty of technical and legal terms which are difficult to translate in the local language.

Carabao English I think is not appropriate to be used in the trial.

--oo0oo--

Speaking of the Lapids this time, Marissa Lapid, the wife of the Kapampangan Senator, has been arrested in Las Vegas for carrying a huge amount of cash into the United States. A total of $50,000 was found in her possession which prompted United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to arrest her.

She has been charged earlier of dollar smuggling in November 2011 but was not aware of the fact that the charges were pushed through.

I hope the Department of Foreign Affairs should look into her case immediately.