In these trying times, the Chameleon, an Old World lizard which could change its color to adjust to its habitat or to protect itself in the face of danger, becomes the iconic symbol of how we as a people should cope up with the COVID-19 Pandemic.
Aside from the problem of how to stem or stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the major issue that requires us to make adjustments is food – its sustained production and availability.
Today, in the Provincial Capitol of North Cotabato, the Mindanao Development Authority (MinDA) will officially launch the Self-Sustaining Food Supply Strategy (SSFSS).
As the name suggests, SSFSS will rally local government units and communities in Mindanao to produce their own food or partner with adjacent political units for a symbiotic sustainable food supply scheme.
The growing of food in small quantities in the backyard or the farms, the start of the Quick Turn-Around Plan for the rice industry in the face of an impending world-wide supply shortage and the Rolling Tienda to give families in isolation access to food supplies are among the major components of the SSFSS.
But I am deeply impressed that just as soon as the idea of SSFSS was shared in the social media, enterprising people and at least one local government unit have caught up with the idea and started doing it.
Lanao del Sur Bombit Adiong has launched the Rolling Store while an enterprising family in Kidapawan City converted their passenger tricycle into a rolling market.
This is the way to adjust and survive in the midst of this crisis.
We cannot be fully dependent on support from the national government because their hands are also full in containing the health problems related to COVID-19.
The lockdowns implemented by several LGUs in Mindanao and elsewhere in the country also pose an obstacle to the transport of food supplies from one area to another.
It is during these times when we should be resourceful and innovative.
I have always said that governance is like basketball where we play a game within a defined boundary with a set of rules.
Inside the basketball court, however, a player could make adjustments in his play.
If he is short and he could not dunk the ball, then he should improve his outside shooting and pile up three-pointers.
That is the formula to victory!
(The first photo was taken by John Pagaduan in Kidapawan City; the next photo was taken in Lanao del Sur; while the meme on innovation was downloaded from a public website.)
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