For along time now, I’m still wondering what is it in fish ball that Filipino people feast on it on the time of crisis or even on the time of abundance. That no longer matters as long as they can savor the unique taste of this ball-shaped food. But then, lately there was a change in fish balls. Instead of being round and dirty white, they became flat and the color is like clean white. Thank goodness there is still the original taste. But eating just one piece is equivalent to eating half of the former round fish ball. What happened to Filipinos’ favorite street food? Have they undergone bankruptcy? If I am a billionaire, I will certainly invest on fish balls if only to retain their former big and round shape.

This month, there has been a rise in jeepney fare which resulted to a rise in prices of commodities including of course, the fish balls. Before, I used to get ten pieces of fish balls for five pesos but now, I only get eight pieces. It is indeed sad that people, especially students can no longer enjoy fish balls at a very low price. This is also the reason why most students would just buy quail eggs instead of fish balls.

Isn’t it sad to think that an ordinary person earning a minimum wage could no longer afford fish balls? Maybe, he will just turn his attention to noodles. What does this thing show about our economy? I sit just a simple “same thing” that critics of the government usually say? Maybe it isn’t. Because one thing that’s certain is that it is getting worse. We are now totally becoming beggars of our own country.

Should we blame the government then? Maybe we shouldn’t, because they are also doing a lot of things to change the face of the nation so that it will become more appealing to the investors. How does the President do this? She does this by putting our military men in Iraq and she even gives them a cheer “Go-go-go!” Now that’s fun. If Angelo de la Cruz was not released and his head was cut, Gloria Macapagal Arroyo’s career might have ended. But she’s a very intelligent President, that’s why we all should rejoice. We should rejoice because she promised to give jobs to millions of Filipinos. That leaves me the question “How?” Let’s all wait for a miracle.

Our fish ball economy shouldn’t also be blamed for the terrorists. That is because they only want to disturb America that is sleeping comfortably on its cozy bed. The terrorists only wish to frighten those countries that are dreaming of becoming allies of the U.S. so as to benefit from its economic and political power. That includes us. But we are more afraid of the U.S. becoming our enemy than being bombed by the terrorists. We are then forever coward to assert our dream of real independence, an issue that will forever remain an issue and something to argue about (only).

Another reason why our country was reduced into a flat, two-dimensional fish ball was because of politics. People in the congress have been quarrelling like lovers in the moonlight park. They say, it is because they wanted to be in show business. Three months from now, let’s all expect the “shut-up Congressman” to be on TV. Speaking of show business, Eddie Gil is now busy with his recording career. He’s the newest comedian in showbiz. My teacher said before “If you’re a ‘nobody’ and you wanted to be famous, try running for president and you’ll be a star in less than a month.” Politics and show business are becoming “one” nowadays. One can’t be in politics without getting into show business. If this is then the case, let’s all patronize pirated CDs and VCDs so that film companies will close, then there will be no more actors and actresses who will run for councilor or Vice President.

But should we plan to make this fish ball economy back to its delicious round-shaped form, we must all open our eyes to the real roots of all these transformations and be able to fight against the barriers (mostly political) even to the point of using our very own fish ball sticks, our arms. And only after that can we bring back the old sumptuous, round-shaped fish balls.

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