I cannot believe that Jollibee’s Champ is now P115. For my children, Jollibee is a mecca and they are still enamored with the red bee as ever. It is a good thing my children does not favor the burgers as much as the chicken and the burger steak meal. Having four rascals on my heels every time we hit the city, and the usual request is a meal at “Ja-bee.”

Good thing my children are plain at hearts and only asks for Burger Steak with Rice and the usual fries and coke and yes, they love the peach mango pies. For a family of 5, a meal at Jollibee costs more or less P500.

The price of rice in my next door sari-sari store has increase again. From P44 to P46 per kilo. Though I do not buy rice by the kilo, I am very much aware with the daily increase of the price of rice. What has happened? My friend at the Department of Agriculture swear there isn’t any shortage of rice in the country and that the cause of the increase is that rice all over the world is simply increasing. Well… might be true. Everything else is increasing. Look at the prices of canned goods and gasoline! I weep every time my family heads for the city. My Dad’s old car guzzles gasoline too much, well that is another post… but anyway, the price of unleaded gasoline today was P49. Imagine that…

I cannot believe we are importing rice from Vietnam and even the US. What happened to us? I remember when I was in grade school, Luzon was the “rice grannery of the Philippines.” What happened? According to the source above, our rice import has increased by 28% compared to last year. How can we be self-sufficient when our own farmers are not being aided by the government? Who are we helping? The economy of Vietnam and Thailand? Our government is projecting a 98% rice self-sufficiency by 2010… I echo willy Marbella, the KMP deputy secretary general, “Yap must be dreaming.”

One thing I found out today… when it rains, my dial up turns to nada… Darn…

Powered by Zoundry Raven

One of the hardest things that I have discovered after leaving my husband was the fact that I was also leaving the image I had become accustomed to. I am not talking about the ritzy house and vehicle I used to drive, but the fact that economically, everything had changed. Not only that the economy in the Philippines had become harder to the regaular Juans and Pedros, but the daily increase of the price of daily commodities is hitting me along with the rest so hard I cannot keep tabs of the price of rice and oil everyday. I have also sworn off watching the news but instead opted for RSS feeds directly from Inquirer, and thats it.

I cannot believe how it is now for the rest, especially those living in the urban areas. Here where I’m at, we can still buy fish at P60 a kilo (fresh catch, and straight from the fishermen). Vegetables are still planted in small patches on land and readily shared to neighbors. Imagine me asking for a few sprigs of alugbati or malunggay..

I had tried to shield my children from the full effect of the economic changes my family is experiencing after I decided to leave. It was difficult because our shopping behavior had change and I am glad my children are not used to constant shopping but they have noticed indeed that we have stopped dining out. We used to frequent Outback, Italianni’s and Starbucks. No designer’s coffee and chocolate drinks for me and the children. But I have tried to maintain the food we are used to eating. No downgrades there, except for the decrease in bacon, hotdogs and pancakes each morning.

I can only imagine how other women like me are managing their lives. I wanted to work right away, but the problem is that if I do, I would need to entrust my babies to maids and other relatives. Having raised my children without much hired help, I simply am having trouble justifying getting paid for something like P15,000 for a month over not seeing your children nor overseeing their studies and preparing their meals. For now, the lease that I am getting for our house in the city is sufficient enough to get us through comfortably.