Marshland dwellers fear soaring prices would dramatically hurt their way of life

By ERWIN MASCARIÑAS
Correspondent .

BUNAWAN, Agusan del Sur – Communities living along the massive floodplains of Agusan Marsh expressed their fears that with the increase in the prices of fuel and essential commodities, life will become harder for them. They see it as a threat to their way of living.

“We are saddened. The increase in the prices of  basic commodities, especially gasoline, greatly affected all of us,” said Marissa Peñaloga, a 44-year old mother of four from Sitio Dinagat, Barangay San Marcos in Bunawan town.

Peñaloga said those living along marshland areas travel by motorboats. Unfortunately, in doing so, they have to spend more since the price of fuel has increased.

“We fear that if the prices would continue to increase, life out here will become much harder,” she said.

Peñaloga said fuel retailers in the town just increased the price of gasoline to P65 a liter from the P50-P55 price range.

Peñaloga said her family now spends some P975 on fuel for a single boat trip from her village to the town center and back. That excludes the P50-fare each of them pays for every motorcycle ride and the additional P20 for every box or container they bring with them.

Julieta Perez, a 54-year old a mother of 13, said she was worried for her children  and their education.

The children in her village have to take a boat in going to the nearest school. Some, she said, just paddle their way across the body of water because they can no longer afford to ride motorboats.

“It’s good for those who are living near the school but what about those who have take a boat just to go to school?” Perez asked rhetorically.

If prices soar, she said, the children might be forced to stop their schooling and just help in fishing or farming.

“We fear that this might be the case,” said Perez.

Junjie Polangco, a training officer of a non-government organization helping villagers, said the problem is not isolated and it has been affecting the entire country.

He said it’s even worse in some areas where rice prices range from P50 to P65 per kilogram and where a can of sardines command prices from P20 to as high as P25.

But while the prices of most commodities shot up, Polangco said the prices of products of communities here like dried fish remained the same.

“That’s the reality we face. Everything else is expensive except for our own products,” said 55-year old Bunawan fisherman Manuel Campus.