BACOLOD CITY — When Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago failed to make it to the International Court of Justice, she faced the issue bravely and realistically by saying, “That’s realpolitik.”

“Realpolitik” is a German word which means as the word suggests, the realities of politics. Somalia which landed the fifth place campaigned more effectively than the Philippines to get more votes. That’s how Miriam lost.

I was asked by some businessmen, will City Hall run after the business of some people connected with the Anti Baha Alliance, after the latter barricaded the road leading to the dumpsite not to allow dump trucks carrying garbage to pass, denouncing their dispersal and demanding an apology from the mayor.

I said, I don’t know. I am not privy to the workings at City Hall and have not met the Mayor for months. But if some people at the City Hall Legal Office are making the research on business owned by the Anti Baha Alliance people or where they have interests, you can’t blame City Hall, if ever they do.

That’s realpolitik. You hurt me, I will hurt you. You destroy me, I will destroy you first. Realpolitik. But in Christian, somewhat!

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I would like to believe City Hall will not be too in a hurry to lower the boom. It will make arrangements on how they can work together.

You have a business operating on franchise grant by Congress? Don’t step on the toes of Monico. He knows how to use power, too. Just as good, if not better, than Bing.

When City Hall refused to give Monico’s son the business permit to operate bingo at SM, Bing must have told himself “Why allow them to make money to be used to campaign against me?” You don’t have to be an analyst to conclude that but remember the word, “realpolitik.”

So, Monico must have told himself, too, “The fight is on!”

When City Hall padlocked and eventually closed TV Channel 13, that was realpolitik. Channel 13 was insistently and consistently attacking the Mayor and the City Legal Officer. Yes, even Sky Cable.

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Must the Alliance be afraid? No! It must not.

They just put their business in order and then stand fast on their principle. They said, they were fighting for principle.

So, let it be. Forget the principal. Some harassments can cost some business. But, principle is more important than principal.

When war is to be fought in the minds of mind, the battle ground is media. They must know how to get media support. Not to antagonize it. They should look for a better issue. The issue of flooding and garbage is viewed by many in media as a self-interest issue because Sta. Clara subdivision where most of them live is often flooded.

They also do not want to touch the issue of graft and corruption. Cellphone snatching in jeeps, they will also say that’s the job of the police. But what they do is just prod the city officials. Denounce them if they don’t act. Distribute flyers all over the city. City Hall it looks is afraid of flyers.

Or the many hungry street children. They need help too. What is the city doing to help them? They ask this question. Then denounce them if the city officials don’t act. Then distribute flyers again.

I will help. But, just don’t scold me if I write about “Gone With The Wind.” Later on I might write about Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” and how the French Revolution changed society, toppling the royalty, stripping the clergy of too much power and pelf, and dismantling the aristocracy, the three estates. What put them down was the fourth estate, the press. Don’t forget Rosseau and Voltaire, both powerful writers.

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Let me now shift to a more mundane topic, the issue of rice. We don’t have to worry about the economic meltdown or economic crisis as long as we have rice in the pot. The economics of the stomach.

I interviewed last Friday over television local NFA Manager Pablito Gemarino.

I interviewed him because of a good move made by government to buy the palay of farmers at a premium price. This with a buy back option.

Meaning that if the price improves later, the farmers have the option to buy back the palay they sold. The role of NFA is to stabilize the price of rice. Buy the palay when the price is low and sell it when the price goes up during off season.

And government is doing this now with the end purpose of improving local production. We have been importing very heavily every year rice from Thailand and Vietnam, in effect subsidizing their rice producers.

Now, government has changed direction. Gemarino’s statistics must open our eyes. Our province consumes every year nine million bags of 50 kilos. We produce only three million, six million comes from outside. And from the 6 million, 850, 000 bags every year comes from abroad.

The idea is we must produce. And we are happy, NFA under Gemarino is responding very well to the farmers’ needs.

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