(SPOT.ph) Cynthia Villar, current chair of the Senate Committee on Agriculture and Food, recently hit us with another one of her nuggets of wisdom in answer to the daily problems that plague the non-billionaire existence of the average Filipino: "Ako naman, kung mahal ang galunggong. 'Di wag kumain ng galunggong, diba?" she told reporters, as quoted by ABS-CBN News.
Known as a poor man's fish, prices for the humble galunggong have shot up to as much as P380 per kilo, with a low of P160, according to the latest market survey by the Philippine Statistics Authority. For comparison, minumum wage in Metro Manila is pegged at P500 as of November 2018—we know the chances of you buying a kilo of galunggong every day are slim, but we'll let the numbers speak for themselves.Â
An importation of 45,000 tons of fish, including galunggong, has already been greenlit by the Department of Agriculture to level out the fluctuating prices, which were reportedly brought about by the closed fishing season.Â
"Gustong-gusto nila mag-import. May naglalakad pa sa akin na bigyan daw sila ng import permit sa galunggong. Bakit ba patay na patay tayo?" added the senator. According to her, people should buy vegetables instead.
To be honest, we get where she's coming from. It's the most obvious answer to the rising prices of fish; why worry about the fact that, for some reason, galunggong is now more expensive than chicken and pork? Living is expensive, so we might as well just keep on adjusting. To follow her advice, we list down all the other food items you may want to avoid to save money:
- red onions
- bangus
- tomatoes
- potatoes
- pechay
- garlic
- chicken
- ampalaya
- bananas
- eggplants
In conclusion:
this strange new world.
