The new kid on the block sounds ahead of the curb. He apparently knows also the relation between the head and the heart. Like, why it’s okay for people to have aspiration but also also must have a goal. Wishing for a star shouldn’t stop men from planting their feet on the ground, literally.
Having a heartbeat for a P25 per kilo of rice is something but reality means it may not be achievable when others and other things make it impossible. The past is past and knowing why happened it did can serve you right by way of an explanation. Planning for the future is the best there is to avoid repeating the que sera , que sera.
The President’s new alter ego in the food sector is what the doctors ordered to shape up, not sink deeper, an industry that for a long time has made people wished for star. There was a time when the P25 per kilo rice was not a dream , or has been told everybody it was so in that past be it can be relived again. Either that, or history has to be rewritten.
The newly minted head of agriculture department thinks the desirable future and the dream of cheaper staple need not be such a hard fiction. One reality check, there has been a serious neglect by past administrations in vital investments for agri-infrasttructure that would have saved 20 to 30 percent of the country’s rice import. Translation:”less hunger where it is showing or felt.
It’s not really back to zero planning, he diplomatically goes back 180 degrees, but the damage has been done or not been checked for a long time. That the new gig in the new era: more harvest facilities, more cold storages and no more viral videos of truckloads of veggies being dumped into ravines in the Cordillera mountains.
What took him so long? The name rings a bell. One upon a time, a well known justice with the same name thought it would be a great mistake to put a bright mind behind bars, He knew not that some day the man will become a dictator, and would become the stuff of modern-day legend, fiction or not. A peaceful revolt dethroned the dictator and sent his family in exile for decades. This year, that historic date is torn from the calendar officially. It’s not fair that such a man who made the P25 per kilo of rice his time should be remembered this way. Hes’ been buried in the heroes’ ground . Let it stay that way.
In the meantime, let the new kid on the block be a laurel, a pedigree of honor. to the second coming. He may not be a miracle worker, but he speaks softly but probably knows how to wield a big stick. The days of the smugglers may be numbered. Illegal activities cause food prices to rise, sometimes unpredictably. It’s good the new food savior is ready to throw them out business or in jail.
Laurel sounds good as advertised. The President should see to it to watch his press conferences in the future. He makes his principal look good, He has a good media savvy and knows how to answers questions and say with a brave face that he doesn’t have all the facts. Nobody does. It’s comforting that way: honest, humble and not making excuses. He needs more people like him in the Cabinet.
In other words, Laurel fits the bill perfectly as an alter ego who outshines not or never his supposed mirror image but reflects him kindly and openly. Someday, future Cabinet members will hopefully be like him.’
Conventional wisdom says that brighter minds are not government. It’s good to know the new agri sector boss was picked from the private sector.. He’s a certified graduate of hard-knocks and brings his credentials to bear on his new job. He’s no alumnus from the Ivy League. He seems ready to talk like his reading his facts on palm of hand or ready to develop an experiential narrative via a journalist’s query or quibble.. He is ready to engage without superfluity or air. He doesn’t threaten, one way or the other.
It will serve him well that way. The agri story of this country should not be a mystery or riddle. It’s an every day fact of life. Laurel knows his facts and gives them straightway. That’s what journalists are for and that’s what the public needs for a long time now. Foreknowledge is expertise. The man knows when the price of galunggong should go down because he knows when fisherfolks can start catching them.
Building more farm-to-market roads should make access to farm produce faster and cheaper. He should know that from experience or when the rubber meets the road. That should be a priority of this administration who calls him to call a spade a spade and tells the people about it. It is interesting he didn’t mention amending the Constitution is the country’s top priority, though.
Laurel doesn’t sound like politician or a prophet. He should stay that way. Being the man you can lean on matters that lead to a better understanding on why life can be better, agriculture-wise., is all we need. In plotting a strategy, politics or not, according Robert Reich in his boom “Locked in the Cabinet”, the primacy of the body needs comes first. Maybe that’s all the secret Laurel’s boss needs in the next five years or so and in his next SONA.
