Bien Chabacano

Are we living through hyperinflation? Today, I was floored when I saw cans of luncheon meat in a locked shelf at the nearby supermarket. It instantly reminded me of the 1901 Chabacano conversation between Ticang and Buchang, where they mentioned that during the short-lived Zamboanga Republic, rice was being confiscated, causing severe food shortages. Moments like these in our history are not hard to imagine because major transitions often bring periods of hyperinflation. Ticang: Ay! Cosa ya man gane este tiempo! Nunca gayot ya observa carestia como ahora ni ya subi el precio del ganta del arroz hasta cuatro reales. Buchang: Quilaya uste, cuando el tiempo del Republica ta decomisa todo el arroz y no hay pa pode sembra ninguno cay no sabe pa quita aquel si quilaya ba quita ay queda. When I first read the word carestia in the dialogues, I did not recognize it from either Spanish or Chabacano. A bien Chabacano colleague in the office later explained that it referred to an increase in the ...