Wednesday, May 07, 2008 Wenceslao: Not only about Saksak By Bong O. Wenceslao Candid Thoughts
I HAVE to give it to Gov. Gwen Garcia and his bright boys, whoever they are, for hatching SakSak. No less than President Arroyo’s attention was drawn to the program. And don’t forget the governor’s critics and sympathizers, and even nostalgic people. Now everybody is talking about rice mixed with camote, and whatever the mix is called.
SakSak stands for the rice-camote mix (or at least for us Cebuanos that is what it is supposed to be called) and is also an acronym. SakSak for Sinanduloy sa Kabusog, Sinanduloy sa Kahimsog. As for sinanduloy, I am clueless. In Sun.Star’s search engine I typed “sinanduloy” and got articles about Tangub City’s popular Sinulog dance contingent.
SakSak is supposedly not only about, well, Saksak, or President Arroyo would not have praised the program. I checked a previous Sun.Star story and found this: “The program aims to increase crop harvest, provide nutritious food for every household and make full use of underutilized agricultural lands in the province.” Too general, though.
I am sure there are specifics but it would be good if Capitol finds ways to make these as popular as Saksak, the rice-camote mix, to prevent a mix-up. Some sectors just believe SakSak is only about eating the rice-camote mix and nothing else. If that were the case, militant farmers were right in saying that, “this is not the way to solve the rice crisis.”
Anyway, reading my column about Saksak or Sinanduloy left nostalgic some of our Filipino brothers abroad. Nonilo Abella, who is now based in North Carolina in the United States said that camote, banana and the like are actually not only for the hard up. “Diri sa North Carolina,” he said, “himaya kaayo namo kun nay camote labinag tapol.”
Here’s more of what Nilo wrote: “Kun mag mongos mi or dunay inun-unan nga isda, lami sab kaayo ang among kaon kun dunay binuyok nga mais. Pangita-on ang mais sa ubang lugar pero diri sa amo nay daghan sa grocery store. Karong bag-o nangompra ko sa tindahan sa Insik, sus, ang 50 lbs. nga sako sa Jasmine Rice $40 na man. Unsaon nga giunhan man og reklamo sa media mao nga nimahal sab ang paliton diri…Ang sab-a nga saging para lusakon hasta ang gardaba dili pa kayo mahal.”
Esteban Jorolan, who is in Geneva, Switzerland, has a different and more serious take on the issue. “Pobre man ko, Sir,” he wrote, “ug automatically mangita man gyud ta ug isagol sa atong main food para lang gyud nga ang tanan makaka-on. Diri sa Geneva, dunay mga TV ug radio forums nga adlaw-adlaw nga nagtuki sa mga problema nga naka-apekto sa tanan pareha sa food crisis karon.
“Represented ang tanan unya tukion gyud kon unsa ang hinungdan ug unsa ang ilang ikatabang. Pero sa atoa, wa pa gyud moatubang ang atong pamuno-an sa mga tawo ug mopasabot kon unsa gyud ang atong sitwasyon. Puro virtual, maora og computer nga wa'y klaro.
“Pila ang atong rice stocks? How long will it last? Pila gyud ang buying price sa rice sa tinubdan? Unsa gyud ang atong mahimo, and what do they intend to do? Porbida, ingnon pod lamang ta nga magsaksak lang ta og kamote, bida pud nga luoya nato uy… Problema man ni sa pobre kay sila nga adunahan makapalit man og sinako nga bugas.”
