WE had the biggest laugh of our life last Tuesday afternoon after hearing the news on the
Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in the Davao Region asserting that a budget of P500.00 is
already enough to buy Noche Buena items for a family of five this coming Christmas eve.
What a joke. Perhaps the DTI people who came up with such estimate were thinking that we are still
in the late 1980s when prices of basic goods and other commodities were still affordable by those who
were earning at least the basic monthly salary of a little less than a thousand pesos.
We are not even sure if the estimators from the DTI had even gone to the wet markets or the
sophisticated grocery stores incognito and saw the price tags of Noche Buena items unexpurgated. We
know for a fact that in most of DTI officials’ store inspections they come with media men in tow. Thus,
from the grocery entrances they can easily be monitored by the store’s CCTV or their presence can be
advised by the guards to the management immediately. So, in split seconds price tags are changed with
those bearing lower amounts for items concerned.
Of course we are not saying that there are no more honest store or grocery managements. There are
a few exceptions but as the saying goes, these establishments are now “a dime a dozen.”
On the other hand, if we have to give a benefit of doubt to the correctness of the DTI claim, may be
its people are making their estimate on the basis of the prices of the usual food items that people eat on
a daily basis and the same items will be used for their Noche Buena fare.
Say, a family of five prepares a Noche Buena of half a kilo of fried galunggong, cooked a kilo or rice,
prepare half a kilo of fresh noodles laced with one fourth kilo of pork, plus condiments of one red onion,
4 cloves garlic, half bowl cabbage, one piece carrot and four spoonful of cooking oil. Surely the resulting
food on top of the table can make the five members of the family’s stomach full to the brim.
But remember that even the poorest of the poor now wants to end their simple fest with a big bottle
of soft drink which now costs close to a hundred pesos.
So, how’s the DTI estimated budget for a simple Noche Buena celebration?
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Recently the Land Transportation Office (LTO) admitted that it has a backlog in the production of new
vehicle plates reaching a high of several millions.
Yet, all these new plates that were supposed for replacements of plates to older vehicles other than
for those newly acquired, had long been paid by the vehicle owners. Another failure of the LTO is the
production of vehicle stickers that accompany the registration and renewal thereof every year. But
many are complaining that the last time they received the stickers together with the renewal of the
registration of their vehicles was still in 2018. Meaning, they had been waiting to receive new stickers
since four years ago. And the sticker cost is paid annually mind you.
We have no idea what is delaying the printing of the stickers. But it would be hard to believe if the
LTO will attribute its failure to have the stickers to the non-performance of their contracted producer as
contained in their contract.
And if indeed the contractor has reneged on its obligation to produce the stickers why will the LTO
not abrogate the contract and change the sticker producer? Or, it cannot just do that option because the
agency may have already paid in advance the entire contract cost, which means…?
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From what we have observed how Sen. Raffy Tulfo comports himself in Senate deliberations we seem
to observe that he has yet to separate the broadcast journalist in him from his being a senator now. This
observation of ours is based on his way of presenting issues for Senate deliberation and his
interpellation of his peers on the Senate floor. It is as if he is an outsider commenting and even
lambasting his fellow lawmakers when he is adverse to the issue at hand.
And if he is not contented with the way the discussion has proceeded in the Upper Chamber he
discusses it in his television program in the guise of helping the public understand the issue and his
position on the matter.
Our take on the Senator’s behavior is that he is taking advantage of his being a broadcaster in having
his way in the Senate even at the expense of some of his fellow lawmakers and the institution itself.
