As a middle-class citizen, I often find myself pinned to the local “tindahan,” a small store bustling with everyday essentials and fresh produce. Yet, with each visit, I notice a burdening pattern: prices rise and supplies shrink—gradually, relentlessly. 

The problem became even more conspicuous when the flood control scandal struck the media, exposing the misuse of public funds meant for the nation.

The Department of Public Works and Highways (DPWH) implements flood control projects worth nearly PHP 360 billion, according to the Climate Change Commission. 

Instead, projects are left unfinished, while the budget is taken for granted.

Day by day, ordinary families are forced to give up items that were once ordinary on their shopping lists, struggling just to make ends meet as prices rise. 

According to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), inflation rose to 1.7% in September 2025, higher than the 1.5% reported in August. 

Inefficiencies in government projects have disrupted the supply chain, driving costs higher and leaving the most vulnerable to bear the brunt.

This issue pounds hardest at the farmers—the very foundation of our food supply—already clobbered by recent typhoons. 

Yet, funds meant to safeguard lives and livelihoods vanish like soap bubbles in the hands of corrupt officials.

Personally, if the government truly prioritized agriculture, farmers’ hands would not be scarred with wounds, and no child would have to roam the streets just to survive hunger. 

In my opinion, farming is one of the hardest jobs in the world. Farmers feed the nation, yet when they return home, their own tables are often bare.

Earning only ₱769 a day, farmers brawl to pay even their utilities, much less put food on the table for their families or even provide for their basic needs.

And this is the cruelest mark: farmers are unappreciated, neglected, and almost forgotten—as if the very people who sustain our lives are left off the list of priorities.

If we truly deserve food from farm to table, we must ensure that farmers’ hands are not only buried in soil to harvest crops but also reap the benefits of their labor.

If farmers are truly the backbone when it comes to food supply in every country, we must dedicate protection, compassion, and support to every farmer who brings food from farm to table.

A vision of a seedling's growth.