Are monkeys taking over?

Last Sunday 5 a.m., a group of 40 monkeys attacked the farming village of Sitio Camulayan Gamay, Brgy. Mambaroto, Sipalay City, harvesting the farmers’ bananas, root croops, pineapples, and jack fruits.

Negros Forest and Environmental Foundation’s David Castro said the monkeys of Negros are the long-tailed macaques and are short of food in the forests that are being destroyed by their brothers, the men.

There’s not much to wonder about if we are facing food shortages. Monkeys have taken over rice trading and rice distribution. We are referring to the tail-less monkeys.

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There are quite a number of monkeys in southern Negros. Some years ago a housewife reported to the police that while she was in their farm, a monkey raped her. Police could not establish a connection that a married neighbor was after her. She insisted it was a monkey.

Monkeys at times also behave better than their brothers. Recently, at the Pandanon Resort of Alex Espino, a monkey ran away with a hand of ripe bananas of the guests.

When it was up in the trees, its brothers pointed an accusing finger at the monkey who, probably bothered by its conscience because it showed monkeys have conscience, too, it threw one banana back to the people he got the bananas from.

The bigger monkeys would not return even a slice of that banana, even if you go to court. Oh, this Monkey World!

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We shift to another topic, the monkeys of the road.

A news report recently said, in just three months 19 people died in Bacolod from traffic accidents. Compared to the same period last year, it was only 14.

Last week an Army man died in a road accident near my place, in front of the Tangub cockpit. I inquired from people there and I was told it was about 7 p.m. and the fellow was dead drunk riding a  motorcycle.

That portion of the road is being constructed with loose pebbles that pose a danger to people riding motorcycles.

If you investigate these accidents and the number of death, the problem has been with motorcycles, tricycles, and pedicabs.

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The other night, while driving home from DAILY STAR, I nearly plowed into a tricycle full of passengers in the highway. The tricycle had no tail light. If you are following one and with a glaring light from the oncoming vehicles, you cannot see the tricycle you are following because it has no tail light.

I ask Senior Inspector Levy Pangue, traffic management unit chief to have even just a one week operation apprehending tricycles traveling at night without tail lights.

Or, if done during the day, inspect if their tail light is working. And those that do not, impound them. Fine them, too. Only fines can correct traffic violators, the monkeys of our roads.

Not only tail lights. Tricycles must also have reflectors. And more so with pedicabs.

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Bishop Vicente Navarra is right. The cause of our food crisis is not over-population. It is corruption by the monkeys in government.

I will give you figures. Indonesia with a population of 228.438 million does not have rice shortage as big as we do. It’s even self-sufficient, producing 54 million tons.

Indonesia was the biggest rice importer before. Now it’s near sufficient. Compare the 2000 figures. Our population then was 82.8 million and our production was 15 million tons.

Based on these figures, Indonesia produces a million metric tons for every 4.2 million population. Ours we produce a million metric tons for every 5.52 million people.

We are the biggest rice importer all over the world because of corruption.

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Another shortage is that of energy. Read again in yesterday’s issue the letter to the editor of Fr. Sean Coyle titled “Economic sabotage from Transco?”

The questions of Fr. Coyle are very relevant. I hope Fr. Coyle sends a copy of this letter to Congressman Kako Lacson and to Rep. Mikey Arroyo to investigate if Transco is sabotaging electricity here in order to have Kepco supply Negros Occidental with power from coal-fired power plant. Because its plant is in Cebu, Transco earns something by transmitting electricity to Negros.

The brownouts are getting more serious. We turn to our Congressmen. And we hope they stand up for the people and not for Kepco-Salcon or Transco.

I hope there are no monkeys in the energy sector.*

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