On the sidewalk of the street that runs beside Quiapo Church parallel to Quezon Blvd., in the weeks before the February 1945 liberation, there were half a dozen men who lay dying of starvation. They were bloated because of starvation. An exemplary member of the Legion of Mary tried to feed them every day, lifted their heads to try to make them drink. He spent what he could afford. Seeing him try to feed the dying was something one cannot forget.

Those last few weeks of the war were bad. Hardly any food could be brought to the city from the provinces. Previously, caretelas brought vegetables. Hunger was everybody’s problem. In our culture food is always shared. But there was nothing to share. One dared not give out food in front of his house or there would be lines of hungry people. The easy way was to bring food e.g., cooked corn grain already wrapped in packs to the market and distribute them there. Once all was distributed they could see that there was no more.

One restaurant, a few blocks from Quiapo Church, recooked all the leftovers so there was always a line of beggars waiting for this soup. The plaintive request of a young girl still rings in my memory pleading: “Sabaw, sabaw.” There was a water pump in one corner of Plaza Miranda and I remember a group of men cleaning rats. There was nothing else to eat, nor a way to cook them. So they ate them raw. In the direst moments in Manila at least there was water in contrast to the hunger at present in the arid areas of Africa. I understand the young legionary of Mary grew up to be a lawyer and then a judge. I have no idea of what happened to the owners of the restaurant. They tried to do what they could. We no longer have that kind of hunger. Thank the Lord.

But we still have food hunger. Mahar Mangahas defines this category as people who suffered hunger at least once in the last week. And there are still thousands of them. In the provinces there is always something to eat, perhaps banana or camote. But why should this happen in a country so rich in resources. One possible reason is that we are not aware of this hunger or we are not united to help each other. We have eight to ten million overseas workers because there is no work for them here in their country. It wrecks havoc on the families. Some try to help. But I think what is more important is that we stop criticizing those trying to help create jobs.

It is easy enough to block a project with theoretical possibility of pollution or possibility of damage to the environment.

We destroyed our mining industry twenty years ago with legal niceties while our people starved and had no jobs. Historically, hardly any nation achieved a first class economy without using a natural resource. The USA used its coal. Up to now more than half the electricity of the US is from coal. That is pollution. Some compromise to the ideal has to be made. Germany and England started off with coal and iron mines. Japan mined the seas. Once you have a head start then you can provide for pollution and environment. People must come first. emeterio_barcelon@yahoo.com