By Jerry E. Esplanada (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
“’WAG NA ’WAG SI (DEFINITELY NOT) Loren Legarda. Si Mar Roxas daw ang suportahan namin sa pagka-bise presidente (She said we should support Mar Roxas for vice president),” Elisa Reyes, a bagoong vendor, quoted Sen. Jamby Madrigal as telling her during a brief chat at Nepa Q-Mart in Quezon City, one of two public markets the independent presidential candidate visited Thursday.
Legarda is running as a guest candidate of the Nacionalista Party (NP) whose standard-bearer is Sen. Manuel Villar, while Roxas is the running mate of Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, candidate for president of the Liberal Party (LP).
During her stops at Nepa Q-Mart and later the Muñoz public market farther up the road, Madrigal made good on her promise to make Villar-bashing a staple of her sorties.
“If (he is) elected president, there will be no limit to Manny Villar’s greed,” she warned.
“Iyong mga galing sa Tondo na nagsasabi na sila’y maka-mahirap, tignan n’yo kung saan nanggaling ’yung kanilang yaman (Those who come from Tondo who claim they’re pro-poor, see where their wealth came from),” she said, an obvious reference to Villar who has made such a claim.
Cheap gimmick
She dismissed Villar’s “rags-to-riches story” as a “cheap gimmick.”
“One may have come from a poor background before becoming rich, but that doesn’t guarantee that person has integrity. Manny Villar was poor when he married a rich woman,” Madrigal said.
Madrigal also ruled out matching Villar’s ad spending in her campaign.
“I have no plans of wasting money on politics. Hindi ko sasabayan ang mga taong gumagastos ng bilyon-bilyong piso na questionable naman kung saan nanggaling ( I will not try to keep up with people who spend billions of pesos whose source is questionable),” she said.
Fish vendor Esther Yniegas agreed with Madrigal whom she described as matino (smart) and matapang (tough).
Yniegas said she was “very much aware” of Villar’s alleged involvement in the C-5 road controversy from the news.
“Akala ni Villar mauuto niya lahat (Villar thinks he can fool everyone),” she said.
Discount for Jamby
The vendor then gave Madrigal a P40 discount on the shrimp (regular price: P210 a kilo) she bought. “Kung si Villar si ma’am, sisingilin ko siya ng (If it was Villar, I’d charge him) P500 per kilo,” Yniegas quipped.
Madrigal then checked out the price of galunggong (round scad), the proverbial poor man’s fish which brought her ridicule at the recent Inquirer presidential forum at the University of the Philippines.
Madrigal, a scion of one of Manila’s old rich families, had fudged a guess of P60 a kilo when asked by a student.
Yesterday she learned it was selling for between P70 and 100 per kilo.
For her answer at the forum Madrigal drew snickers from the audience, but she quickly recovered when she said that she was a vegetarian.
She did buy Dagupan bangus (milkfish) though but not galunggong.
Veggie section
Madrigal then went to the vegetable section where she spent much time and where she purchased, among other items, ingredients for her favorite Filipino dish—laing.
Native to the Bicol region, laing is a creamy, spicy dish of taro leaves and chili peppers cooked in coconut milk.
“Actually, I like farmers’ food better than rich man’s food. My other favorites include mongo, adobong kangkong, mustasa, boiled or inihaw na talong and upland rice,” she said.
No comments:
Post a Comment