By Mortz C. Ortigoza
When I taught
Economics in college more than a decade ago, I explained to my students what
was inflation and its exception where the seller maintained the old price of the
goods at the expense of the product’s quality.
Tupig delicacy is a long sticky rice logs wrapped and cooked in banana leaf. Bundles of tupig can be found being sold along the highway in Pangasinan and Tarlac provinces. |
“Sabi nila ang donut daw dati wala namang butas iyan. Pero dahil sa pag
spike ng cost of production ang merchant gumawa ng malaking butas para maka
menos gastos,” I jested.
In case some of my
students swallowed that joke hook, line, and sinker that was their intellectual indiscretion by juxtaposing a joke and a jerk.
I thought my “Donut Analogy”
was the best I strutted to those who care to listen. But last Monday,
Philippines President Benigno Aquino III shamed me with his antics on the
Economics of Tupig (Long sticky rice logs wrapped and cooked in
banana leaf) here’s the excerpt
when the president, an economics graduate of Ateneo de Manila, spoke before the
hoi polloi in the turnover of shared service facilities (SSF) in the province
of Pangasinan that was held at the world class stadia owned by Dagupan City
Mayor Belen Fernandez.
“Iyong nag alaga po sa
akin, kung umuwi sila sa kanila sa Paniqui, Tarlac parate po ako
pinapasalubungan ng hinde isa o dalawang piraso ng tupig kundi bundle bundle
po. Siyempre ang tupig okay ito. Sumulong po kasi ang kung saan nangaling ang
aking lolo, noon po nauso po iyong suman. Iyong suman pinapalagyan ng (asukal)
para sumarap. Iyong tupig, matamis pero crispy pa, crunchy na, mas kumpleto
ata. So, tuwang tuwa tayo dahil mahabahaba iyon noong bata pa tayo mga one
foot.
Minsan po nagpunta po
tayo, papunta ata ako sa Baguio, nadaan tayo sa Pangasinan nakita ko ang
nagbebenta ng tupig, tinanong ko bumili po tayo ng bundle bundle, binuksan ko
andaming balot (diyaryo) may balot sa ilalim na papel, may balot sa ilalim na
papel uli (crowd chuckle). Natatandaan ko kasi isang balot lang ng papel ang
tupig. Noong nakita ko ang tupig (sa Pangasinan), parang pastillas sa laki.
(Crowd laughed).
Sabi ko sa nagbebenta:
Brod, halika ka nga bakit iyong balot madami? Bakit?
Sabi niya: Sir walang
nagbago. Ang presyo pareho dahil tumaas ang bilihin sa tupig pero ang presyo
pareho lang!
Baka puwede natin
maibalik sa dati ang laki ng tupig? (Crowd chuckle).
***
When we were waiting at
the coffee house for the three helicopters of President Benigno Aquino III to
land at the huge helipad near the mall owned by the city mayor, over the huge
cup of brewed aromatic Café Amerikano one of the two radio commentators told me
Grace Poe could not be a natural born because she is a foundling.
ME: The ponencia (essay)
written by Justice Jose Perez said: First, she was a natural born because the 1987
Constitution only provides two kinds of citizenship natural and naturalized;
Second,Poe's
repatriation results in the recovery of her original nationality where I cited the case of
Bengzon vs House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal. The SC said "repatriation results in the
recovery of the original nationality; Third, domestic and
international laws on foundlings say foundling enjoys the presumption of being
natural born. Moreover, these laws do not permit discrimination against
foundlings. Poe's reference to adoptive parents as birth parents where the SC
said the Domestic Adoption Act of 1998 allows Poe to state that her adoptive parents
are her birth parents. Adoption Act says all adopted children are natural born.
“Section 2 Article III of
the Constitution says The Philippines… adopts the generally accepted principles
of international law as part of the law of the land and adheres to the policy
of peace, equality. That’s Pacta Sunt Servanda”.
REPORTER: (One of
those who were milling around when commentators conversed) What is Pacta Sunt Servanda?
ME: Istorbo ka na
naman naguusap kami ng seryoso dito. Pacta Sunt Servanda kuwan yan, iyong
nabibili sa Mercury Drugs, punta ka doon!
Seriously, Pacta Sunt
Servanda is a Latin word “that promises
must be kept”. An expression signifying that the agreements and
stipulations of the parties to a contract like those international agreements must be observed.
(You can read my
selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at
Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)
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