NO matter how wealthy a Pinoy is, he will still want to eat bulad, ginamos, tinapa, sardines, kinilaw, ginataang munggo, ginataang kalabasa, Bisayang manok with papaya or malunggay.
That’s why we’re amazed when we see, say, former Sen. Manny Pacquiao and his wife Jinkee eating bulad: Wow! They’re so rich and yet they still eat bulad!
Only the Pinoy carnivore will wish to eat ribeyes daily. But the Pinoy carnivore is as rare as a Rolls Royce and that precious Rolls Royce umbrella in the Pinoy’s garage. The usual Pinoy fare is the lutong bahay whose recipes have been passed down from generation to generation.
So, if that’s all the Pinoy prefers to eat, why bother aiming for gazillions of pesos? Hmmm. For status. For power. For the above-it-all feeling. The wealthy perhaps feels he can buy anyone now: the senator, congressman, the Department of Public Works and Highways official.
Those congressional hearings are mind-boggling. That’s the 2025 episode. There were other episodes in previous years and decades, and they were also mind-boggling. There will be other episodes in the future if no solutions will be formed out of the current episode.
Graft and corruption have become the easiest way to become wealthy in Pinas. And those who have benefited from these seem to live like there’s no tomorrow. But since they’re human beings, they will eventually experience what other human beings experience. And they will then be replaced by other grafters and corrupters who will also steal from the national treasury, and the wealthier they become, the more they will believe they’re untouchable.
But the truth is everyone, rich or poor, is “touchable.” No one is exempt from the laws of nature.
Have you ever seen anyone die? Our dear departed doesn’t bring anything with them. They’re in the clothes they died in, and wrapped in the blanket they died in. And that’s all. Whatever they owned while alive are left behind.
I’ve read this somewhere. There’s this dash on the tombstone, between the date of birth and the date of death. And the dash is the most important part of that line — whatever the dear departed did during that dash is the legacy he leaves behind.
Imagine including the Rolls Royce and the Rolls Royce umbrella, acquired through alleged ill-gotten wealth, in that dash. And the barely built flood control projects. And the bridges over no water. And the roads that are often repaired even if they don’t need repairs. And the schools that have leaky roofs, cracking walls, broken school desks, damaged restrooms. And the public restrooms that have no water.
Try entering a newly built municipal hall, and there you’ll see barrels in its restrooms to store water because the water system has stopped working.
Which now reminds me of the downtown Cagayan de Oro mall whose water reservoir had species. Resulting to gastroenteritis for its clients. Is there no protocol for maintaining the cleanliness of water reservoirs?
So, while eating what that mall’s restos may offer as their versions of lutong-bahay meals, you sip the service water in-between bites, bringing the reservoir’s species into your tummy. Ouch.
