THE whole week of last week was Short Cuts’ most unforgettable period in his life as a columnist.
He received calls from friends as reactions to his Climate Change report in his previous two Sunday issues of this paper. What made it more interesting is the fact that the call mostly came from town executives in the province.
“Gi-unsa man nimo pag encourage sa mga tawo aron sila makatanom jod sa saging agi ug tubag sa Climate Change?, was the common query.
(It is informed that in 1972 when Short Cuts was the incumbent Mayor of his town, Philippines suffered an almost ten RAINLESS months.)
And, here was Short Cuts’ easy answer to the inquiry . . . .
Short Cuts had to call to a meeting of all households in every barangay. And because there are thirty five barangays in the town, Short Cuts had to spend a lot of time and effort in introducing the project to his constituents.
As usual, the plan met vehement objections.
Though not expressed in words, Short Cuts during the meeting, could easily detect from the eyes and faces of the barangay folks their opposition to the idea as presented.
“Gahaguhagu, gadugang laman na ug oras sa among ka-busy”, were the almost uniform cry against the project of the town executive. And these oppositions mostly came from the heads of families – the fathers.
But, Short Cuts was quick in countering the objections.
“Ayaw pagtanum sa Lunes hangtud sa Sabado. Human ninyo ug simba sa Domingo ma-o pay inyong itanum”, was Short Cuts solution to the problem as presented.
With the idea presented by Short Cuts, almost all heads of families were speechless.
It is but interesting to reveal that in all the barangay meetings in the town, not one head of a family ever questioned the proposed solution of Short Cuts, that is – to plant bananas only after the Sunday mass.
And, if only to attain a happy solution to the initial objection from the family heads but was finally approved, Short Cuts had to say this in jest: “Mga asawa, kon dili motanum ang inyong kapikas ug saging bisan ug nagkasabut na kita karon, AYAW PADUG niya soud sa usa ka semana.”
The scheduled meeting of all the barangays in the town usually ended with laughter.
As a consequence, the almost four thousand (4,000) household of Short Cuts’ municipality, at that time, planted bananas at 50 ponos per household.
The checking as to the compliance was assigned by Short Cuts to the Office of the Chief of Police.
And, who is that family brave enough to counter the directive?
Firstly, the matter was agreed in a barangay meeting. Secondly and foremost, at that time (1972-1979), it was Martial Law.
Years after the directive in the planting bananas was issued by Short Cuts as the mayor of the town, he could hear words of praises and thanks for what Short Cuts had done. “Had it not of your directive, Mayor, wala unta kami’y saging nga makaon”.
This experience was duplicated by Short Cuts when he was serving the province as Vice-Governor.
Serving as Vice-Governor, he mandated all his almost 60 employees of his office to plant at least 20 ponos of bananas.
“Unless you plant 20 ponos of bananas, your appointments will not be renewed” was Short Cuts’ directive to his employees.
The reaction shown by his employees at the Vice-Governor’s Office when directed to plant bananas was exactly the same degree of reaction as that of Short Cuts previous employees at his Mayor’s Office.
Ultimately however, his Vice-Governor’s Office employees complied.
And, when Short Cuts bowed out of office as Vice-Governor, he was given a party in one of the Beach Resorts at Panglao. All of his employees thanked him for the planting-of-banana order.
Almost all of them brought ripe bananas during the affair!
With the narration, Short Cuts hopes that the incumbents in the different local political positions of the province could now muster their respective plans in addressing the inevitable Climate Change phenomenon.
Planting of bananas serves not only as an answer to Climate Change.
Can bananas not also be considered food for the family!
