Scarcity and survival

Prices of commodities are going up and we do not see any drop in any of them going down in the near or far future. Our addiction to fossil fuel which the monopoly of the cartel of oil producers and cartel of oil distributors is doping us with will not cease because the government appears unwilling, unable or corrupted to give us any relief. We know that when fuel prices go up the prices of all others skyrocket as well. Every businessman wants to have an excuse to raise his price and we can only grin and bear it.

Scarcity is the reason for high prices, the so-called law of supply and demand. Even if the supply is abundant at source, when the cartel and monopoly turn greedy, the supply spigot is closed or released in droplets or in tiny pieces to force the contraction of supply. Businessmen thus get more for the same or less quantity. It is more profit for less.

In moments of tight supply people find ways of surviving and thank God He has given nature enough means to provide man with his needs. It is only for man to seek and find these provisions from nature. World War II showed us how people rediscover the things in nature they had ignored. Some found new ones.

When by the middle of 1942 rice became scare the Japanese rationed them at 200 grams per person per day. People filled up their carbohydrate needs with yams of different varieties like gabi and bisol, sweet potatoes or kamote,  budyawi or palm fruit, sago, cassava (tapioca) or kamoteng kahoy, and unripe banana (sab-a variety). The people of west Negros who looked down on the corn grits that is staple food for those in the oriental side had to eat them, though mixed with rice, if they are available. By the end of 1942, the rice situation had become so acute the ration dropped to 150 grams, forcing people to collect the fine rice grains (binlod).

We had a rice mill which the Japanese used (they paid us with milled rice per cavan) and every time the mill ran, people gathered to collect binlod. These fine grains were sharp so the only way to make use of them is for very light broth.   

Soap was a treasure but these eventually had disappeared and people took their bath or washed their clothes in the river without them leading to hair lice (koto) epidemic both for men and women. Papaya sap was good for the skin but this cannot be had always.  Those fortunate enough to have a coconut tree shampooed their hair with mouth-chewed coconut meat. The hair was cleaned and glossy, better than today’s shampoo.

Despite these difficulties, there were moments of enjoyment. Women had achuete for rouge while men had motor grease on their hair to keep them combed and shiny, the pre-war style. The Japanese held public dances during weekends and on special days. In Bacolod that was complete with orchestra or gramophone which we called with a funny name – grapopono.    

In the guerrilla held areas, the evacuees also held dances on the pre-war holidays as July 4 US Independence Day, November 12 Philippine Commonwealth Day, patronal fiestas, birthdays complete with handwritten invitations on the back side of a sugar central milling report or intermediate and primary grade pad paper and crayon-colored designs. There were string bands and new songs composed. Filipino priests, disguised as farmers riding his carabao and the sacristan as helper went to the mountains where he said Mass, heard confessions, distributed communion, blessed the buried, performed marriages and baptisms.

Those in the towns had their regular Sunday Masses and administration of the sacraments. Bishop Casimiro M. Lladoc had given wider faculties to his priests so that they could make do with the little they had, including austerity in wine and flour for the host. 

In the absence of a swimming pool, the evacuees from Silay dammed a creek and not only constructed a pool but with a sluice gate they were able to construct a small hydro-electric power plant that enabled them to have lights at night and power for a radio transmitter that brought them news from San Francisco on the progress of the war. The news was printed on mimeographing paper, later bond paper when the submarines brought them. The paper was distributed by courier throughout the island. In such dire situation the guerrillas had four newspapers in three languages– in English, Spanish and Hiligaynon. These publications kept their morale and fighting spirit high. Next Saturday we will deal with natural medicine.*

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