THOUGHT fOOd fOr

BY KALANIE SALDAJENO

Anursing student quietly sits on her tiny desk as she struggles to understand the contents of her MedicalSurgical textbook. In her tiny dimly lit room, misery is her only company. Beside her is a glass of cooled, cheap coffee that she made around 5 pm. Beside her is a plate of stale rice and adobo she got from the local carinderia. She splurged a little today; she usually survives on hard-boiled eggs and fifty-peso meals as her Finals approaches. She lives alone in a fast-paced city away from her family. In her tiny apartment, she contemplates whether there is a future for her in health care considering the breakout of the COVID-19 pandemic.

She followed her routine religiously for two days, until one day, the University president suspended classes with no assurance of when classes will resume. The young student nurse then packed her bags and rode the bus to her province. She hasn’t seen her family for a while now and she looks forward to finally being reunited with them. Upon taking the three-hour trip back home, she finally arrives at her house. She was greeted with tight hugs and warm smiles from her parents and siblings, and she was welcomed with a homecooked meal in their kitchen. The girl can’t help but tear up at the sight in front of her; she hadn’t had a homecooked meal ever since she started college. The meal in front of her was a far cry from the budget carinderia meals she had near her campus.

The girl in the story is me, and this is a story of how food was able to make my quarantine experience more bearable. Food has always been the universal love language in my family. We may not say I love you to each other a lot, but we do express our love for one another by cooking together and eating together. When the pandemic started, there was a lot of anxiety, especially in the sleepy town where I come from. I live in the middle of nowhere surrounded by mountains and rivers, and information regarding the COVID-19 virus isn’t as widespread. The villagers do not know to which only more than a dozen had been completed by the end of his term.

However, such projects are expected to be continued under the new administration, according to various reports. Despite this, the Duterte administration has called the flagship program a success since they have fulfilled their promise of spending at least 5% of the gross domestic product on the country’s infrastructure annually, to double the investments of the previous administrations.

Moreover, according to DOLE, a total of six million Filipinos have been lifted out of poverty by 2018 under the regime of President Duterte. Lower crime rates have also been recorded, with a whopping decrease of 64% in the recorded crime volumes across the country.

RECEIPTS AND MOBILIZATION

“As vice president, although she was not a Cabinet secretary, she showed to us citizens that the vice president, unlike the connotation which others believe, is (not) merely a spare tire. With a limited budget, she was able to undergo small projects from the neglected parts of our country,” stated National Unity Party president Elpidio Barzaga.

According to CNN Philippines, VP Leni Robredo’s renowned Angat Buhay program together with its 373 partner-organizations have managed to help 622,000 Filipinos across 223 cities and municipalities, using more than

P520 million funds that primarily came from the private sector — despite her measly annual budget during her term.

Moreover, in 2021, the Office of the Vice President (OVP) has also received the PRIMEHRM Level II Accreditation for Meritocracy and Excellence in Human Resource Management from the Civil Service Commission as well as the Government Best Practice Recognition for the OVP’s COVID-19 pandemic response. In addition, the OVP has also received the highest audit rating from COA (Commission on Audit) for three consecutive years.

Robredo also led several relief operations all over the country, including the relief operations for those who were devastated by Typhoon Odette, last December 2021. It was also reported that almost 5,000 volunteers have shown up in the relief hub, in which they have worked in shifts around the clock to repack goods and other essentials for distribution.

Truly, the Duterte-Robredo tandem was an administration that had served as a waking call to the Filipino people in a lot of ways. Theirs was a legacy that had left little imprints in each and every citizen of this country that would later lead to the grand realization of the kind of government we truly need and deserve. Imprints of yesterday’s legacy that we would look back to, and review in the coming years — a standard-bearer of the values, morals, and governance we need to both look for, and/ or avoid for us to attain the change that we badly need. C

FOOD THOUGHTS FROM PAGE 24 much hence they mostly stayed inside their homes. The streets that used to bustle with people are no more and what remained was empty silence.

For the first few months, I laid in bed contemplating, and throughout that duration, food was there to accompany me. My mother would make me arroz caldo, sopas,tinola and many more soups and stews to calm me down. When I got tired of the invasive thoughts that kept running through my head, I got up and decided to help around in the kitchen. I was able to learn multiple recipes throughout this pandemic, especially from my 80-yearold grandmother.

My grandmother had a talent for making kakanin, and for the longest time I wanted to learn the skills from her. However, I just cannot seem to find time because of my studies. The first thing I learned from her was how to make ibus, particularly how to wrap it tightly and perfectly. Ibus is a variety of suman. It is made with glutinous rice mixed with salt and coconut milk. The mixture is poured over pre-made coil containers of young palm leaves called Ibus or Ibos and fixed with the leaf’s central shaft. The learning process was difficult, but I was able to get the hang of it. I also learned other recipes like suman,sapin sapin, biko, bitso-bitso, puto and many more. Learning these recipes took up a majority of my lockdown.

Food is an integral part of our culture, especially where I am from, and particularly in my family. I was at a loss during that break from school and it undoubtedly contributed to my anxiety. It is quite ironic that it took an entire pandemic to help me reconnect with my own culture—but it is what it is. Food is more than just something that sustains your body. For me, food also serves as that one connection you have with your heritage and family that brings comfort to the weary, especially during these trying times.