The celebration of Halloween is very much popular in the west. The infamous Jack O’ Lantern, the Dracula, the Witches and other symbolisms of this genre are popular symbols of this holiday. The celebration of Halloween began from the North America and was later on embraced by the western countries. You can read the history of Halloween at Wikipedia or click here.

Here in the Philippines, Halloween is not very popular until lately. Filipinos celebrate this season religiously in cemeteries to commemorate the death of their loved ones and to pray for their eternal salvation. The All Saints Day and the All Souls Day are two holidays that are more celebrated in the country. Since it is a religious tradition, Filipinos from the Metropolis go to their provinces to light a candle at the cemetery for their departed loved ones. Traffic build up in the streets of the metro is very evident during these times and bus reservations are always full with lots of chance passengers hoping to get a seat. For some, this is also the time when families gather which turn out to be a family reunion. Of course this was also the case before.

As time pass by and Filipinos are getting more and more westernized coupled with financial crisis, this religious tradition is fading and Filipinos are contented staying at home and praying for their loved ones instead of going all the way to the province and light a candle. Also, Halloween parties are very popular these days in the country and that costume parties are celebrated everywhere. Even the salesladies and salesmen are wearing Halloween costumes during the Halloween season to attract customers. There is nothing wrong with this adaptation of the west but I just hope that the traditions of the Filipinos, traditions that are ours should not be exchanged for the western ones and those they should be remain in every Filipinos’ hearts and celebrated, commemorated. For these traditions mark a Filipino. Let’s not forget who we are…

The high prices of vegetables sold in the market seem to be very alarming especially in an agricultural country like the Philippines. It is an irony to think that Filipinos are buying expensive vegetables in their markets and that imported vegetables are even sold at a lesser price. With the high prices of pesticides and fertilizers, using them on small scale would be more expensive and that is why vegetable products imported are sold at a lower price here in the country is because these vegetables products are cheaper to produce outside the country. What shocked me today is when our professor told us how vegetables are sold at high prices but a Filipino farmer is at the borders of the poverty line.

Organically produced farm products are sold in the market 30-40% higher than the normal selling price of these vegetables. Why? The reason might be the law of supply and demand. There is a great demand for organically produced vegetables but there are only few producers which explains the its high selling market price. For organic farmers who previously employ inorganic practices, they are expected to have a 40% reduce in their farm input. This means that even if a 20% decrease in output may be observed after the transition from inorganic to organic, still, there will be a positive net income. So if this is the scenario, we should be expecting our organic farmers to be wealthy now. Imagine buying organic malunggay (Moringa oleifera) sold at Php60 per kilo, Sweet potato tops sold at Php40 per kilo and so on. The point is that, organically produced vegetables are high value and it should follow that the farmers should be earning a lot from it.

The question now is, why is it that this scenario cannot be seen in the local farmers? Our professor accounted that when they visited a certain part of the Philippines, he was able to interview an organic farmer that plants carrots. The farmer told our professor how his carrot farming proceeds after harvest. He told that he has to walk at least 2hours to his farm in located in an upland area and comes down to from his farm carrying 40 kilos of carrots on his back. This is how his life is. This did not shock me but what made me stop for a while is upon hearing that they are selling their carrots to the middle men at Php5 per kilo. That’s right! they are selling them at Php5 per kilo. Even a one day’s worth of unlimited text is more expensive than the organically produced carrots. Then our professor tracked the carrots and found out that these are being sold at Greenbelt during the “Green Day” when organically produced vegetables are sold in markets. The sad thing is that, those carrots bought at Php5 per kilo as farm gate price are now being sold at Php60 per kilo. And this is very ironic and sad for the part of the farmers. Who gets the benefits? The middle men do.

Funny how people rally on the streets screaming to oust their government officials for an unwanted governance of poor performance, funny how people scream at the top of their lungs because of hunger and poverty just because the government cannot give them what they asked and funny how people scrutinize corruption when they themselves do it even on a daily basis.

But then, why is still corruption prevalent? Why is it that these government officials are corrupt? Has anyone thought about this before he/she marched to the government offices? One concrete reason is that, they had to since the people pushed them too. During election campaigns, people expect from their candidates to give them something, people expect from their officials to make their roads concrete, to install basketball courts for their barangay, to give them medicine and even relief goods even if they are not yet in office. And where do we expect them to get the funds to support these people’s pleas? They are not yet in position but they are already compelled to do it, win or lose, they already spent much. So, when they are already in office, what do they do? They get very busy just to regain what they spent during the campaign period.

It is even ironic that people expect their congressmen to build roads, public services, medical missions, feeding programs and the like when their sole purpose in the office is to formulate laws that will safeguard their constituents. But officials who do their duty are not recognized by the people, lest they are only labeled as corrupt since no projects are visible for the people to see.

Why did I mention that even those who are not government officials still are corrupt? Easy, for a child with younger siblings, exercise of “maturity rule” can be a very corrupt way, or how about bringing office supplies for household consumptions like writing papers, ballpoint pens and the like for those who are already working? Or how about asking more from your parents what you really need or what is required for school projects?
So, if I ask you now, aren’t you corrupt too? Do you have the right to march up to the gates of the government offices just to scream that corrupt officials should resign? Think again. I myself is guilty of such.