LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA — Like so many others, I frequent the better restaurants in Dumaguete city not only for their ambience but also because they usually serve good food, maybe some entertainment, and have servers that sometimes pamper their customers. Though some of them seem to take forever with my orders, I let them slide because as the saying goes: Like good wine, good food takes time. But just between us, their (some) food, though good, is, quite frankly, not really all that, if you know what I mean. In the evenings, some areas of Dumaguete now reek of food cooked in old, overused cooking oil (to keep costs down) but, with a little of this sauce, and a little of that sauce, no one is the wiser. I say more power to the restaurant owners for doing everything to keep their businesses afloat while still keeping the food decent enough. And, if I don’t get food poisoning, well, I don’t care. Bon appétit!
When I say I frequent those better restaurants, I don’t want to be misconstrued as saying I don’t patronize those little, out-of-the-way eateries that uppity people would snob. Well, I will eat anywhere if the food entices me and there are so many of those places in Dumaguete. Sometimes the most obscure food places serve the best of something. The hardest step is just that first taste! There’s this place in Banilad that’s in a sari-sari store with a couple small wooden tables and chairs that sometimes creak under my two-hundred-something pounds. But, their Humba is so delicious, I probably wouldn’t care if I fell while eating. I even take my friends there for lunch, or more like brunch. You gotta be there by 9 AM because they have so many die-hard regular customers that their food can’t seem to stay put in their pots.
Some other mornings, early, when I’m not feeling too lazy, I call my friends to invite them to this painitan that serves chokolate and puto. And no, this is not at the tiange. This is just a small stand on the sidewalk by the national highway, also in Banilad. Now, I should really be telling them that they can’t use the sidewalk for this but their chokolate and puto are so good, that I’m afraid if I did, they just might close shop, and then where would we go for such a delicious treat?! Besides, the authorities do not care about violations like that because they have so many others by bigger businesses that they turn a blind eye to. So you see, Dumaguete offers so much for the palate, if you weren’t so discriminating. The smaller ones would like to please you, too!
Really, though, I don’t want to spend the rest of this article talking about restaurants and food—that’s not what this is about. This article is more about consistency and fairness. When you discriminate against a restaurant, you’re not discriminating against the food. You’re really discriminating against the owner of the restaurant because the place is not well-appointed; the walls are not painted; they don’t have good, sturdy silverware; the napkins are too small; the plates are not China; there are no waitresses; you suspect the water is tap; sometimes you get buzzed by the occasional rogue fly; and because of all that, you think the food was prepared in unsanitary conditions. Take the same owner, give him some capital to build a nice restaurant in a nice building, and you wouldn’t bat an eye to go in there. Guaranteed!
I you think about it, and here I will begin to veer to the real topic, all of the above can be likened to the politicians we see campaigning on social media now. They are making the rounds in the various barangays of Dumaguete City. I see pictures of them walking through tight alleys, stepping on unstable stones to keep their feet dry, to reach Juan and Maria’s house to introduce themselves as the candidates who are asking for their votes, so they can serve and lead them to new heights of progress. I doubt they know Juan and Maria, but nevertheless, they are willing to spend time with them amidst their busy schedules to convince them they couldn’t go wrong if they voted for them. Smiles are in abundance during these visits, and umbrella bearers scatter about like cats with their tails lit.
And if Juan and Maria asked them to stay a little longer, they would only be so happy to grant them that, never once showing a hint of haste, or so it would seem! Gotta appear nice and accommodating, attentive to their plea. It’s only until after elections, anyway!
These conditions, unfortunately, only exist during the magical periods of political campaigns. At the conclusion of the elections, getting the attention of the same politicians will be like pulling teeth. And if, only if, on the off chance they will stop to lend you one ear, it will be so brief that it would feel like finding out your water bottle leaked dry on a hot blistery day in the middle of nowhere, and you’re on the brink of dehydration! But don’t be dismayed because they’ll apologize and promise you another day. But then again, did they say another or never? Now, if you have some weight or influence in the community, you might catch not one but two of their ears, along with their attention! But ordinary people, like Juan and Maria, nah, highly doubtful!
I could, of course, be wrong about all this, but I have yet to be proven wrong. I hope one of them makes me wrong! This would be one of those times I would be overjoyed to be wrong!
With the way it is now, politicians are rearing to dig their heels in deeper than their opponent’s. If one were to give Juan and Maria’s kid a hug and a lift, the next one would also give them a hug and a lift plus a lollipop. They one each other up by recycling the same rhetoric and actions. Some of them offer nothing but fakery, promising more than even their own dreams can weave.
It would be refreshing to know later on that they paid Juan and Maria a visit because that is who they really are—not forced by the requirements of the political campaign. Their accommodating nature should accompany them all through their political careers, reflecting the concern they say they truly have for their constituents. Some constituents may need more than the meager monetary help the government usually hands out—they may just need their leader’s undivided attention. They may just need to be heard out, proof that their elected official has not forgotten, or better yet, not forsaken them.
I hope that all the candidates are truly of the people and for the people, looking upon everyone as equal and not discriminate between the rich and the poor. I hope they will finally understand that more than giving aid to the people is giving them the means to help themselves. This and much more is totally possible and will likely happen just as soon as politicians learn to back their talk with their walk. Good luck to us!
______________________________
Author’s email: [email protected]
